Manteno stuns Streator with late third-quarter flurry for 47-26 triumph

STREATOR – With a five-point lead late in the third quarter of Friday’s Illinois Central Eight Conference game with visiting Manteno, the Streator Bulldogs seemed to be in pretty good shape to get back to .500 and even their ICE Conference mark.

Then came the final four minutes of that third quarter.

Manteno capped off a 12-play, 61-yard drive with a Connor Harrod 5-yard touchdown pass to Ashton Brazeau, forced a three-and-out and followed up with a 67-yard Harrod-to-Aidan Dotson TD connection. Eleven seconds later, Dotson raced into the end zone again with a strip tackle and 31-yard fumble return.

In the span of 3 minutes, 48 seconds, the Panthers turned a five-point deficit into a 14-point advantage en route to a 47-26 win over the Bulldogs at Doug Dieken Stadium.

“We’ve got an energetic group,” Manteno coach RJ Haines said. “So when big mo’ swings toward us, I feel pretty good about it.

“I told them at halftime, ‘Guys, what we have to do is right in front of us. You know what you have to do. You just have to not be afraid to make plays, and defensively stand our ground.’

“We needed some explosive plays on offense. We got it. And we needed some explosive plays on defense, and we got it.”

Manteno – led on the night by the sophomore Harrod’s 18-of-31, 323-yard, five-TD passing performance with favorite targets Dotson (three catches for 141 yards and one TD), Brazeau (6 for 89 and two scores) and Porter Chandler (4 for 75 and two TDs) – climbs back to 2-2 and 2-0 in the ICE.

Streator falls to 1-3, 0-2.

“One of the things we talked about was not making mental mistakes and playing behind the chains,” Streator coach Kyle Tutt said, “and then you talk about that third quarter. They made some big plays, and when we make mistakes like that they’re going to capitalize, being a good team. They did a good job of that.”

Dotson’s 67-yard catch and run followed by his 31-yard fumble return to pay dirt swung the game completely in Manteno’s favor.

“No, I haven’t. That’s a new little thing for me right there,” Dotson said of scoring two touchdowns in an 11-second span. “That was pretty fun.

“I got in the backfield pretty quick [on the fumble]. The ball was slippery. Everyone’s moving around, and [Streator RB Isaiah Brown] was back there a little bit. First thing’s first. I had to secure the tackle. I did that, and the ball came out. I got up, saw it, took my chance and went for it.”

Manteno outgained Streator 381-279 in yards from scrimmage. Streator – led by QB Isaiah Weibel playing in place of the injured Christian Benning, who was in uniform but wearing a headset instead of a helmet on the sideline – dominated on the ground, rushing for 194 yards led by Weibel’s 123 yards and three touchdowns on 35 carries and Brown’s 59 yards and one score on 15 attempts.

“[Weibel] is a guy, we talked about being comfortable with our depth early on in the year, and we do feel like he have some guys who can step into some roles. Zay is one of those guys who can do that. He did a great job this week coming in, spending extra time, doing the little things, studying, and you can see some of that effort he gave and time he gave.”

The Bulldogs led 6-0 after one quarter, then trailed 13-12 at the half after allowing a blown-coverage, Harrod-to-Chandler touchdown pass with 17.3 seconds remaining. Streator retook the lead with its own 11-play, 62-yard drive to open the second half, with Weibel bursting in form 1 yard out. From there, Manteno finished the third with its aforementioned flurry to go back ahead and suddenly pull away.

Manteno hosts Lisle in Week 5, while Streator is back at Doug Dieken Stadium for a Friday night visit from Herscher.