NewsTribune football notebook: L-P battling significant number of injuries

Throughout Friday’s game against Rochelle at Howard Fellows Stadium, and especially in the second half, La Salle-Peru had a group of players getting treatment from athletic trainer Gina Martin and staff.

The Cavaliers were hit hard by injuries in a 48-20 loss to the Hubs, losing “five or six” key players, according to coach Jose Medina, as well as having other players miss time during the game.

La Salle-Peru suffered big losses on defense, including linebacker Josh Bickford.

“He’s one of our inside guys. He’s the big one [we lost],” Medina said. “Then we had to move people around. Andy [Medina] went from playing outside end to inside backer. It’s tough, but next man [up] in is the motto.”

The Cavs, who came into the game with multiple players out, may need to look to the lower levels to fill out the roster.

“We’re batting through a lot of injuries this year,” Medina said. “Our team is slowly depleting. The biggest thing is you have to get kids to step in. Hopefully, we get some guys returning next week and fill out the roster.

“We’ll take a look at the sophomore level and see if there’s anybody who can come up and help us out a little bit and go from there.”

PLAYOFF OUTLOOK

With four weeks left in the regular season, the playoff picture is starting to take shape.

Princeton lost 31-3 to Monmouth-Roseville on Friday, but the Tigers are on track for their sixth consecutive playoff appearance.

The Tigers are 4-1 with games left against Hall (1-4), Mendota (0-5), Mercer County (3-2) and Erie-Prophetstown (3-2).

Bureau Valley is in the hunt sitting at 3-2 in its first season in the Lincoln Trail-Prairieland Conference Large Division. The Storm have multiple winnable games left at Illini West (2-3) in Week 7 and West Hancock (0-5) in Week 9. BV also will play Elmwood-Brimfield (4-1) this week and travel to Macomb (5-0) in Week 8.

La Salle-Peru is 2-3 and needs to win three of its last four against Ottawa (1-4), Sycamore (5-0), Kaneland (4-1) and O’Fallon (0-5) to become playoff eligible with five wins. However, the Cavs could still be in the mix at four wins. Multiple four-win teams made the field last year, and L-P sits at 25 playoff points and should finish with a high total with five opponents – Metamora, Morris, Rochelle, Sycamore and Kaneland – that are 4-1 or better.

St. Bede (1-4), Hall-Putnam County (1-4) and Fieldcrest (4-1) need to win out to become eligible, while Mendota (0-5) can’t reach five wins.

A FORCE UP FRONT

Dane Stewart didn’t show up much on the stat sheet for Bureau Valley in the Storm’s 46-13 win over Knoxville on Friday.

That doesn’t mean he didn’t have a big impact on the game.

Stewart made only two assisted tackle but played a big role in limiting the Blue Bullets to 212 yards and shutting out Knoxville for the final 21:21 of the game.

“He didn’t make a ton of plays, but he was phenomenal being disruptive inside,” BV coach Mat Pistole said.

OTTAWA AGAIN

La Salle-Peru is facing an unusual situation this week when the Cavaliers travel to Ottawa to face their rivals in an Interstate 8 Conference game.

It’ll be the second game between the teams in three weeks. L-P defeated the Pirates 33-0 on Sept. 13 at Howard Fellows Stadium in a nonconference game.

The Cavs have won 10 consecutive games against the Pirates.

“It’s going to be tough,” Medina said. “To beat them once is hard, but to play them twice, they’ll know some of our tendencies and we’ll know their tendencies. It’s going to be a little back and forth. Hopefully, we come out victorious.”

VERSATILE ATHLETE

Senior Braiden Freeman has done a little bit of everything for Mendota this season.

He’s run the ball in every game, caught a pass in four of five games and has thrown at least one pass in every game but one.

On the season, he has 25 carries for 134 yards, 14 receptions for 169 yards and three touchdowns – including three catches for 62 yards and two TDs in Friday’s 28-21 loss to Sherrard – and he has completed 2 of 5 passes for 45 yards.