BELVIDERE — Belvidere North slowly chipped away at East on Friday, eventually cruising to a 28-6 win in its last home game at Funderburg Stadium.

The Blue Thunder will play their next home game [--] an Oct. 11 matchup with Belvidere [--] in their new place, Milt Brown Stadium, on the other side of town. But they appeared to be right at home Friday as they chalked up 484 yards of offense while holding East to only a late fourth-quarter TD. Blue Thunder halfback Kenny Anderson rushed for 203 yards, 135 in the first half, while quarterback Corey Wennmacher scooted for 142 yards and two touchdowns on the ground while throwing for another 85 yards and a TD.

“East is a lot better than its been, and we didn’t want to come in and underestimate anybody. We didn’t,” said Wennmacher, who headed into the game as the conference’s leading rusher. “Every hole we had was huge tonight. You have to give the credit to our O-line. I take no credit for this one.”

North (2-2) scored a touchdown in each quarter, highlighted by Wennmacher’s 35-yard cutback TD and his 38-yard scoring strike to Doug Traceski midway through the fourth. Even with 11 penalties for 87 yards and four turnovers, the Blue Thunder remained in control throughout.

“This was a really key game for us. 1-3 is a tough hole to climb out of,” North head coach Curt Tobin said. “This was a fun game, but it will be really nice to get into our own home, and really get that home-team feel.”

East (1-3) fell short on a couple scoring opportunities that would have kept them in the game in the first half. An 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by E-Rab return man Keyon Hopson was called back for a holding penalty, and the ensuing 9-play, 86-yard drive stalled with an interception on the goal line.

Hopson had a 39-yard pass reception down to the North-16 called back for illegal procedure later in the first half as well.

- Jay Taft, rrstar.com