Not since Week 9 of the 2004 season had the Boylan Titans lost a NIC-10 conference football game. Last week's 17-6 win over Auburn marked the Titans' 66th consecutive conference victory.
Much doubt about the survival of Boylan's streak was brought on by the strength of an improved Hononegah squad from a year before. The Titans faced the Indians at Kelsey Field on Friday night in a football game for the ages.
The hype surrounding the game brought many media types to the press box and sideline. Three televsion stations. Two newspaper reporters. Two radio stations, as well as a student-run station. And a publisher from some high school sports website.
Either way you look at it, the accounts of the most pivotal NIC-10 football game of the year are well-documented: By printed paper, television sports highlights, internet video, streaming audio, etc.
In an effort to provide a different presentation of the game, Northern Illinois Sports Beat offers over 60 Tweets about the game. The Tweets are presented in chronological order.
Because Twitter limits its characters to 140 for every Tweet, plenty (PLENTY) of shorthand was used. Actually, the character limit was 127 because of the automated inclusion of the hashtag #BoylanAtHono. Also, proper capitalization and punctuation wasn't utliized all that much because of the quickness of getting the Tweet out as fast as possible.
In an effort to clarify the Tweets, a explanation may be offered after the Tweet, noted by an *asterisk, italicized, and in (parentheses). Perhaps needing an immediate clarification is the fact that "Hono" is short for "Hononegah."
7:24 p.m. 1,000th Tweet ... But more importantly the Indian kick is up and we are underway at Kelsey Field at Hononegah!
7:26 Hononegah rec fumble on first Boylan play at Titan 25
7:29 Jake Wilson 11 run on rt side sweep. PAT good. 7-0 Hononegah 9:59 1st q. *(11 run = 11-yard touchdown run. Any future Tweets such as this indicate touchdown runs, unless otherwise tweeted)
7:32 Mac Nelson rec fumble at midfield. 2nd Boylan fumble in first 3 min
7:35 Ryan Sughroue with a nice reaching 1st down catch at the 39 ... Leads to an Alec Smith 39 run up middle. 7:28 1q. 14-0 Hono
7:40 Boylan rushes for1st 1st down of game. Throwing game not working, leads to punt
7:42 Adrian Marquez punt ret for TD negated by a block in the back at own 41
7:48 Two loss tackles by Boylan and delay of game penalty brings about Hononegah punt at midfield. Boylan takes over at own 10
7:52 End of one quarter: 14-0 Hononegah leads Boylan in football action
7:56 Boylan called a horsecollar. Hono into Titan red zone. Titans not tackling well tonite so far. *(called ON a horsecollar)
7:59 Boylans Graham Smolinski strips Adrian Marquez close to end zone. Coach Sughroue arguing that Marquez was in end zone.
8:00 Marquez hurt on play, went down hard on knee. Boylan ball at Hono 45.
8:01 Boylan qb change. Demry Croft replaces Brock Stull.
8:04 Hononegah DL Jacob "Dragon" Meyer carried off now. Ankle. Boylan hitting much harder now than earlier.
8:06 Boylan in Hono red zone for 1st time. 6:30 2nd q
8:08 5:30 2nd boylan going on 4th and 5 needing 15 for score. DOG penalty now moves to Hono 20 *(DOG = Delay of Game)
8:09 Seth Combs tackles Nick Pumila on short pass to force TO
8:14 Alex Martin 5 run up gut, short dive to score. 21-0 Hononegah 2:32 in 2q
8:16 Boylan had a 15 pi call to help Hono run. 2nd 15'er for Titans so far, this one cost them. *(pi call = pass interference; 15'er = 15-yard penalty)
8:20 Boylan punts at own 31 1:07 left in half. Hono needs another 89 to score 4
8:21 Knees to end half. 21-0 Hononegah leading Boylan
8:42 Boylan kicking off to start 2nd half against Hononegah
8:46 Ian Riggs tackles Smith for -3 on 3rd down to lead to Hono punt. titan ball at own 38
8:48 "0-0!" yells from Hononegah sideline to start 3rd
8:53 Matt Sciame strips ball and runs it in for first Boylan score from close range. 21-7 Hono 8:35 2nd q
8:53 Nearly a backfield facemask on Boylan on the fumble run in
8:56 Backfield miscommunication collision for Hono on 2nd and long. Hono 3rd and 9 on own 31, 7:16 in 3q
8:58 Hononegah pass inc, punts, boylan ball at own 40
9:01 Jacob Cremeens sack of Stull brings 4th and 11 for Boylan. Punt. Hono ball at own 39.
9:06 Alex Martin and Jake Wilson w b2b 10+ runs to Boylan red zone. *(b2b = back-to-back)
9:08 Hono fumbles away at Boylan 23. 2nd iffy fumble call in favor of Titans. *("iffy meaning Hononegah thought otherwise)
9:11 Jacob Cremeens with 2nd sack of Stull, leads to punt. Hono fumbles again back to Boylan at Indian 39
9:12 Croft 21 pass to Stull on left side. Hono leading 21-14 w 42.6 in 3rd q
9:15 End of 3. 21-14 hononegah leading boylan
9:19 Boylan facemask brings Hono into red zone. 3rd 15'er for Titans
9:20 Sam Ballano 8 run up middle for Hono. 10:36 left in game 28-14 Indians lead Titans. Penalties killing Boylan tonite
9:28 Boylan 4th and 1 short at midfield. Hono ball 8:39 left
9:32 Hono goes on 4th and 2, 6:32 left. Short. Boylan takes over at own 41
9:35 Croft qb'ing. Runs for 40 yd wind on right side for score. 28-21 Indians, 5:33 left.
9:37 Hono kick return short. At indian 13
9:39 Zack Matthews sack -3 on Smith. Hono fumbles again. Titan ball on indian 2
9:39 Was a Td. *(Quinn Smolinksi returned it for the score. "Titan ball on indian 2" was incorrectly assumed that the play was downed at the 2-yard line)
9:40 Crazy game. 28-28 4:33 left.
9:43 Jake Wilson 65 run on rt side on first Hono play from scrimmage. 34-28 hono 4:20 left
9:48 3 min left. Boylan 4th and 6 at hono 35. 34-28 hono leading.
9:49 Croft to Stull complete. Tough grab. Now at hono 2
9:50 DoG pushes boylan to 7 *(another delay-of-game)
9:55 Sam McGuire 3 run around left end. 1:06 left. Pat kick tipped but good. 35-34 Boylan.
9:57 Hono ball at 20, 1:06 in game
9:59 Passing. Make. Miss. Christian Esquivel sack for Titans, -7. 48.3 left. 3-16
10:00 Inc on 3rd down
10:02 Graham Smolinski cuts off pass to Sughroue, Smith pass tipped by Boylan's Jake Bergstrom. Boylan knees. Ballgame. 35-34 boylan
Boylan senior lineman Christian Esquival:
"When I was on the sidelines, I was thinking about to make a big play. I saw my opportunity there. I knew they were coming because I kept thinking about it and focusing on it. And when I had it, boom! That's what happened."
"We had a struggle there in the first half. But with a little inspirational talk with the team, we pulled it right up, and thanks to the twelfth man, which is Jesus up there, he had his eye on us. We give a big thanks to Him for that."
Boylan head coach John Cacciatore:
"One play at a time. One piece at a time. I've been doing this for a little while. Fenwick is in my mind, and how we had to chip our way back in that one. Last week was another tight game. I wouldn't say that it was the way we wanted to do it, it's winning ugly, but we'll take it at this point and on to Harlem."
"I tip my hat to Coach (Chris) Rozanski, our defensive coordinator; every single day their defensive circuit works on strips. Every single day. I think there's nothing else the Chicago Bears have shown us that how important it is. It's not just the luck of the draw, it's not just bad ball handling. It's a skill that you work on."
Boylan senior quarterback/wide reciever Brock Stull:
"This is probably the most happiest I've been in a while. They moved me to slot later in the game, and we needed some big plays. With (Chase) Ferger being gone (to injury), I had to step up I felt like, and I did. The whole game the media was talking before, we actually felt like we were the underdogs. Should have been the opposite way. We were playing like we had nothing to lose and we showed it out there."
"We were never down. We had two games actually like this last year: one in the playoffs against Fenwick, and against Harlem last year. Same story as this. We knew that we weren't done, and had to play harder. And we did."
This account is by all means incomplete. What more do you have to add about one of the most memorable high school football games ever in northern Illinois? Add in your accounts in the "Boylan @ Hononegah" topic on our NISB Football Forum. Not a member of the Message Boards? Register today!
