Rocks roll on new turf
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By Steve Batterson | Monday, September 15, 2008 |
Rock Island running back Kendrick Hearn runs up field during a nonconference game against La Salle-Peru on Friday, Sept. 12, 2008, at Rocky Stadium in Rock Island, Ill. (Andrew Link/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo
VIDEO: Rocks roll on new turf
Charles Nunn, Kendrick Hearn and Ben Sparkman led the offensive onslaught a…
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Rock Island took a test run on its new artificial turf Friday night and answered plenty of questions in the process.
In addition to breaking in the new $800,000 turf with a 531-yard rushing performance, the Rocks demonstrated why they hold the top spot in the Illinois Associated Press Class 6A football poll, steamrolling La Salle-Peru 52-7 at rain-soaked Public Schools Stadium.
“We had some real questions coming into this game, but after watching the way we played I think we’ve got a chance to be OK,’’ Rock Island coach Vic Boblett said.
“It has been difficult to get a read on this group. They’re a pretty low-key team, but they came out and played with some real emotion and competed. I liked what I saw.’’
Charles Nunn, Kendrick Hearn and Ben Sparkman led the offensive onslaught against the previously unbeaten Cavaliers, who ranked eighth in the Illinois 5A poll.
Nunn touched the ball five times but piled up 191 yards. He scored on runs of 53 and 80 yards that sent Rock Island on its way to a halftime lead.
“I felt so much faster on the turf,’’ Nunn said. “Whenever I had the ball in my hands, it felt like touchdown, touchdown, touchdown.’’
Hearn added 134 yards on 10 carries, including touchdown runs of 38 and 28 yards, while Sparkman rushed for 107 yards on eight carries from the quarterback position.
Rock Island never punted and turned the ball over once on the soggy, but sturdy turf.
“The turf was amazing. There wasn’t any give at all,’’ Sparkman said. “You could just cut and plant. It was incredible.’’
Hearn believes the turf helped him as he cut back through the La Salle-Peru defense and Boblett agreed that it definitely made a difference.
“On a night like this, normally this would have been a muddy, sloppy game and against a bigger, power team like La Salle-Peru, it would have been tough,’’ Boblett said. “But, I didn’t see any slipping and sliding out there. We just played ball.’’
It wasn’t just the offensive onslaught that pleased Boblett in his team’s final tuneup before the start of Western Big Six play.
“The running backs, they not only ran exceptionally hard, but they blocked well and that has been an issue for us,’’ Boblett said.
The Rocks took the field wanting to prove a point.
“After last week (a 7-6 win at Crete-Monee), we knew we didn’t play as well as we could have. We wanted to prove to people that we are the type of team that people think we can become,’’ Hearn said. “We’ve got work to do, but we took steps in the right direction in this game.’’
Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
On the run
According to Illinois High School Association records, Rock Island’s 531 rushing yards ranks as the 29th-best team performance in Illinois history and the third-best effort in Rock Island school history.
The Rocks’ top-three rushing performances:
Yards Opponent Date
569 Quincy 10/4/1996
564 Oak Forest 10/25/1996
531 LaSalle-Peru 9/12/2008
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