Chase Rivera sets single-game rushing mark for Peotone in 52-14 win over Streator

PEOTONE – It was a record-breaking night for senior running back Chase Rivera, the new single-game rushing king at Peotone.

Rivera ran 24 times for a record 300 yards and four touchdowns as the Blue Devils snapped a three-game losing streak with a 52-14 Illinois Central Eight Conference and homecoming win over Streator on Friday night.

Oh, and he was named homecoming king at halftime with 196 yards already on the stat sheet.

According to the Peotone coaching staff, the old record was 273.

“People have asked me this season about breaking records, but all I care about is making it to the third round of the playoffs,” Rivera said. “A Peotone football team has never done that, and I’d love to do that in my senior year. If those records come along with that happening, it will be icing on the cake.

“Our offensive line was on fire tonight. There weren’t many runs I had where I even got touched until I reached the second level.

“The record will have my name on it, but to me, we as a team broke the record tonight.”

The victory improved Peotone to 4-3 overall and 2-3 in the ICE. Streator fell to 2-5 and 1-4.

Rivera’s TD runs of 7 and 76, plus a 21-yard running score by Tucker Cain (13 carries, 158 yards) in the opening quarter helped the hosts to a 21-7 lead. Rivera then added TD dashes of 23 and 28 in the second quarter to push the advantage to 35-7.

On the night, Peotone rushed 52 times for 495 yards, while QB Ruben Velasco was 3-of-4 passing for 49 yards.

“The biggest key for us was not getting away from what we do after the last three weeks,” Peotone coach Apostolos Tsiamas said. “We had Week 4 against Wilmington, which was a tough one, and they do that to a lot of teams. Then the last two weeks against Coal City and Mantneo we were right there with them and just came up a little short. The rapid response might be to start moving things around and trying different things, but we were going to stick with what we do.

“This week was about trying to get things back on track, and we were able to do that despite the distractions that come with homecoming week.”

In the second half, the Blue Devils had a 6-yard TD run by Connor Pasch, a 4-yard scoring run by Cain and a 24-yard field goal by Nate Wehrmann, who was also 7 for 7 on PAT kicks.

Streator’s scores came on a pair of TD passes from QB Isaiah Weibel to Matt Williamson – a 37-yarder in the first quarter that tied the game 7-7 with 6:31 on the clock, and the other a 12-yarder late in the fourth.

Weibel finished 14 of 28 for 161 yards, with Williamson catching four for 82 and Jake Hagie five for 47.

Peotone’s defense held the Bulldogs to 70 rushing yards on 19 tries.

“We didn’t make any progress tonight coming off last week,” Streator coach Matt Cloe said. “We had a bad game, and we took another step back. We just didn’t play well discipline-wise or assignment-wise. From a coaching standpoint, I have to be better, and from a player standpoint, they have to be better.

“We’ll get there.”

Streator hosts Reed-Custer in Week 8. Peotone is at Lisle.