The second week of the IHSA football playoffs narrowed Rockford’s field even further, but here are the players who stood out the most this weekend. Whether their teams won or lost, these players all stepped up big:
Alec Schlichting, Lena-Winslow
Schlichting continued his hot streak, rushing for 215 yards and four TDs to spark Lena-Winslow’s 44-14 win over Stockton in the Class 1A second-round playoffs.
Cooper Hoffman, Durand/Pecatonica
Hoffman, the Rivermen senior quarterback, completed 16 of his 22 passes for 134 yards and two TDs with no interceptions as Du/Pec stormed past Paxton Buckley-Loda 33-6. Hoffman also rushed 16 times for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
Grant Gensler, Rochelle
Gensler ran for 137 yards and four touchdowns on only 15 carries and also had an interception near the goal line in Rochelle’s 38-6 Class 5A victory over Lisle Benet.
Ethan Goodwin, Rochelle
Goodwin had a game-high 12 tackles in Rochelle’s 38-6 win over Lisle Benet as the Hubs (10-1) won 10 games for the first time in 21 years.
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Caden Considine, Byron
Considine not only had 36 carries for 161 yards on the ground during Saturday’s 14-13 Byron defeat, but he also led the defense with 11 tackles and two passes defensed from his linebacker position.
Caiden Gates, Boylan
Gates tied for the team lead in tackles with nine and was Boylan’s leading rusher with 54 yards on four carries in the Titans’ 33-10 loss to Coal City.
Ben Bucher, Belvidere North
Bucher ran for a team-high 52 yards on seven carries, including TD runs of 32 and 7 yards in Belvidere North’s 28-10 win over Wauconda. Bucher has six touchdown runs in two playoff games.
Noah Rooney, Belvidere North
Rooney had two interceptions, including a 48-yard pick six to expand Belvidere North’s lead to 21-10 in an eventual 28-10 Class 6A win over Wauconda and give the Blue Thunder a school-record 10 wins on the season.
Gavin Sanders, Lutheran
While Sanders was bottled up much of the day as far as rushing the ball goes, he did take a pitch and lofted a 51-yard touchdown pass to David Ballard during Lutheran’s 53-29 loss to LeRoy in Saturday’s 1A playoffs.
8-man
Karter Livengood, Milledgeville
The Missiles ran Livengood so much he used up three lines of their scorebook. The 5-11, 195-pound junior ran 30 times for 104 yards and both TDs in a hard-fought 16-12 win over Ridgewood. He also completed four of five passes for 67 yards as Milledgeville reached the 8-man semifinals for the first time. The Missiles (10-1) host Polo (11-0) next week in a rematch of Polo’s 30-14 win in Week 6. Polo clobbered West Carroll 66-0 and has won every game this year by at least 36 points except for that 16-point win against the Missiles.
Polo’s offensive line
The Marcos (11-0) ran for 386 yards on 32 carries in a 66-0 quarterfinal win over West Carroll. Eleven different Polo players carried the ball. None had more than seven carries or more than 77 yards, but all ran wild behind dominant blocking.
