|
|
|
|
: 3/2 large brick home, with large shop on 1 ac corner lot. $259,900. See pics @ or 576-4069.
Van Vleck struck from long distance on three of its scores, from 76 and 57 yards on passing plays, and on an 85-yard run by Leslie Glass-Thomas.
Leopard quarterback Kade Kucera, a sophomore, racked up 243 yards passing and three touchdowns in the romp. Senior wide received C.J. Griggs was Kucera’s favorite target, catching 4 passes for 136 yards and scores of 57 and 19 yards.
Van Vleck shut the Bloomington running game completely down, holding the Bobcats to minus 15 yards on the ground, much of that on bad snaps and fumbles behind the line of scrimmage. The Bobcats had 12 plays for negative yardage. The Leopards rolled up 416 yards in total offense to 60 for Bloomington.
“Speed is our strength,” said Van Vleck head coach Michal O’Guin. “We’re still very young (13 sophomores and a freshman on the varsity roster), but we’re doing some things right. The last two weeks our defense has come along and gotten better.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the Leopards struck with their first big play of the night. Kucera connected with Hakeem Blackmon on a 76-yard scoring play. Bloomington shot itself in the foot on its next possession. With starting quarterback Johnathon Madrigal out of the game following an injury on defense, a bad snap on first down cost the Bobcats 19 yards, then a fumble was scooped up Van Vleck’s Andray Brown, who took it in from 15 yards out. After Will McGonagle’s second point after kick, the Leopards led 14-0 early in the second quarter.
Van Vleck then tried an onside kick, but sophomore Javis Brown snared the high bouncing ball and raced to the end zone from 54 yards out. Daniel Castro’s kick cut the lead to 14-7 with 9:27 remaining in the first half.
That’s as close as the Bobcats would get.
After Van Vleck drove to the Bobcats’ 13, but missed a field goal the Leopards’ Blackmon picked off a Frank Kassner pass at the Bloomington 29 yard line. Six plays later Cheavon Richardson bulled it in from the 1 with 1:29 to go. The PAT was blocked, and Van Vleck led 20-7 at the half.
In the third quarter, Van Vleck scored on three of its four possessions. The Leopards first score came on a 57-yard pass from Kucera to Griggs, who caught the ball slanting inside over the middle, spun back outside and raced to the end zone. The Kucera to Griggs combination connected again from 19 yards three minutes later after a Zach Quiroga fumble recovery at the Bobcats 27. As time wound down in the quarter, Leslie Glass-Thomas had the biggest play of the night, when he burst through the middle of the Bloomington defense, then sprinted down the home sideline for an 85-yard score, the last scoring play of the night.
Bloomington found some offense in the third quarter, getting its initial first down of the game with 7:25 to go in the third quarter on a 37-yard pass from Madrigal to Ryan DeLosSantos to the Leopards 17. On the following play, Madrigal hit Brown for the Bobcats final score of the night. Castro added the point after kick with 7:03 left in the third quarter.
Madrigal finished the night completing 4 of six passes for 79 yards with one interception and one score.
Bloomington head coach Lonnie Goad agreed that the Leopards’ superior speed was a factor in the game.
“We did a good job of playing physical football, but they had the speed once they got outside of us to take it the distance,” Goad said. “They have plenty of speed to go around.”
Goad was pleased with the play of sophomore Brown, who scored both Bobcats touchdowns.
“He’s only been out for football about three weeks, so he’s still learning. He did a good job tonight,” said the head coach.
Offensively, Goad said the Bobcats were going through some growing pains.
“We’re a new coaching staff this year, and we’re still learning who can do what. They took away our run game early and we were able to hit some pass plays later in the game.”
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Van Vleck, Leslie Glass-Thomas 4-95; Terrence Alliniece 10-40; Kade Kucera 8-31; Cheavon Richardson 10-11; Eric Brown 1- (-)4. Bloomington, Ryan DeLosSantos 12-26; Frank Kassner 6-13; Emir Resendez 1-3; Chris Johnson 2-(-)7; Keith Schulke 1- (-)19; Johnathon Madrigal 6-(-)31
Passing: Van Vleck, Kucera 8-20-1 243; Dalton Rodriguez 0-1-1 0. Bloomington, Madrigal 4-6-1 79, Schulke 1-1-0 (-4), Frank Kassner 0-2-1 0.
Receiving: Van Vleck, C.J. Griggs, 4-136; Hakeem Blackmon 1-76; Andray Brown 3-31. Bloomington, Kassner 2-31; DeLosSantos 1-37; Brown 1-17.