Last night's match-up between M-S and PC turned out great in Mahomet's favor. Two of the top teams in the cornbelt were head-to-head last night, and was built up to be a great game. Mahomet came in with 28 seniors, while PC graduated most of their starters from the previous year. From the first snap of the game, Mahomet looked more powerful, more athletic, and more prepared than PC. After losing to PC the past two seasons, Mahomet was out to revenge those losses. Mahomet did just that, totaling over 200 yards in the first half, and dominating both lines of the ball limiting PC to one first down in the first half.
I personally have not seen Mahomet dominate PC like they did last night. Mahomet used a rotation of three running backs, starting with #22, Andrew Brewer (Junior). Brewer ran 8 times totaling 120 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also starts at corner for the Bulldogs, and had some nice outside coverage tackles. Spencer Williams, #21 (Junior) also ran well for the Bulldogs, scoring twice. The only negative last night in the running game, was on the first series. Mahomet fumbled twice, recovering both of them for first downs. Also, QB #13, Lyle Shallenberger, fumbled a snap on the opening driving losing 5 yards. Lyle threw the ball well last night, a vast improvement from his Junior season, which was his first year as the starter. Lyle had composure and looked confident in the pocket.
Mahomet's defense was dominate in last night's game. LB Jon McComb (#54, Senior) looked sharp and was in on most every play. McComb had two int's and returned one of them for a score. The defense looked sharp and was gang tackling on every play. Mahomet's DE's contained very well not allowing PC's backs from getting to the outside. PC does not have the passing game that they have had in the past few seasons, and it looks like their offense needs some time to develop before they are a threat to opposing defenses.
M-S ranked #9 in class 4A, and PC ranked #4 in class 4A, made a statement with last night's performance. The News-Gazette, which is published in nearby city of Champaign-Urbana, had 5 editors/writers pick PC to beat Mahomet. Mahomet understands the writers have to be objective in their picks, but what research did they do to pick this game? Hopefully in the future, the writers will do more research before picking winners in the cornbelt conference.
