ROCKFORD - Belvidere North wants to know what all the fuss about playing at Boylan is about.
In their first ever game at Titans Stadium, the Blue Thunder threatened to upset the conference powerhouse on its home turf Friday.
“I think other teams come in here thinking they’re already beat a lot of times,” North quarterback Corey Wennmacher said after his team’s 21-13 loss at Boylan. “But we didn’t.”
But in the closing minutes of a sloppy, but hard-fought game that ended with 185 combined penalty yards, the Titans prevailed by scoring two touchdowns in the final 4:44 to improve to 5-0. Boylan extended its conference winning streak to 26 games, and North fell to 2-3.
“We held them off, but I give all the credit to them,” Boylan coach Dan Appino said. “They did a great job, they came in here with a great game plan, and that Wennmacher is an outstanding athlete.”
Boylan scored first on a 3-yard pass from Zach Lane to Shane Zackery to start the second quarter. Michael Morman’s kick put Boylan up 7-0. But North answered with a 5-yard TD pass from Wennbacher to Doug Traceski. The kick failed, and Boylan held the 7-6 lead until the final 4:44 of the game.
Boylan pulled away when Paul Barmore scored on a 9-yard run with 4:44 left. After the Blue Thunder went 3-and-out, Barmore scored again for Boylan on a 33-yard run to give the Titans a 21-6 lead.
“The kids were definitely frustrated, but they kept their heads about them in the end,” said Appino, whose team pounded North 48-7 last year. “I don’t think they did that as well in the first half.
“We definitely needed this game. We needed to be challenged physically and mentally, and (North) gave us both.”
North added a 1-yard TD run by Wennmacher with 1:02 remaining, but the Titans ran out the clock.
“Our kids played their hearts out,” said North coach Curt Tobin, who was an assistant coach at Belvidere before taking the job at North. “I’ve been in three state title games, and no kids ever played harder than these kids did tonight. They left it all out on the field.”
North’s offensive line gave Wennbacher time all night to pick his receivers, and Wennbacher finished 13-of-25 for 152 yards. Lane finished with 72 yards on 10 carries and went 6 of 17 for 67 yards.
- Emily Tropp, rrstar.com
