Football: QB sparks Rocky's rout of UT
It didn’t take top-ranked Rock Island long to announce its intentions Friday night at the Soule Bowl.
The Rocks scored the first time they touched the ball in each half, enjoyed three one-play scoring drives and rolled to a 49-7 victory over winless United Township in the Western Big Six opener for both teams.
Quarterback Ben Sparkman led an efficient effort by Illinois’ top-rated Class 6A team, scoring on four of the six times he carried the football. He totaled 154 yards, including a 60-yard touchdown run on Rock Island’s first snap of the game and a second-quarter score from 65 yards.
But, it was his fakes that helped the Rocks turn a 14-7 game into a 28-7 problem for the Panthers with 4 minutes, 48 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Sparkman’s ability set up touchdown runs of 43 yards by Kendrick Hearn and 59 yards by Charles Nunn on counter plays that allowed Rock Island to blow the game open.
“He’s so good in terms of hiding the ball,’’ Panthers coach Kai Killam said. “It’s easy for a coach to assign a defender to the quarterback, but just when everybody in the place is sure that the fullback has it, there goes Sparkman. He sells it the way it’s supposed to be sold.”
Sparkman said he was simply making the most of holes created by the Rocks offensive line.
“It’s been awhile since we won the Big Six title, and 1-0 is where we wanted to be after this one,” Sparkman said. “It was pretty quiet on the bus on the way over here. That’s not always the case. You could tell guys were pretty focused on the task at hand.”
Despite the quick first score, the Rocks found themselves in a 7-7 game midway through the opening quarter after a 56-yard fumble return by the Panthers’ Anthony Angel.
A quick six-play drive capped by a 10-yard touchdown run by Sparkman with 3:41 left in the first quarter allowed Rock Island to regain a 14-7 lead it would not relinquish.
“We talked about trying to make turnovers and big plays, but they turned right around and stuck it back in their quickly,” Killam said. “That’s what good teams do. They’re a legitimate No. 1.”
Although a 94-yard kickoff return by Nunn and an 11-yard touchdown run by Sparkman after a UT fumble led to a continuous clock just over two minutes into the second half, Rocks coach Vic Boblett wasn’t certain his team played its best football.
“We were the faster and more skilled team, and while everything looks good on the surface, I’m not sure our technique was the best tonight,” Boblett said. “The tape will tell me for sure, but my fear is that our technique was not very good at times. Moving forward, there will be times when we have to sustain drives and move the chains and that technique will have to be there.”
Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.