Coal City’s late fumble recovery, critical conversion hold off Dixon 20-13 in 4A

COAL CITY – High school playoff games don’t always live up to the hype.

The 4A state quarterfinal between Coal City and Dixon on Saturday afternoon – a 20-13 Coalers victory – however, most certainly did.

Dixon recovered a Coal City fumble with 2:45 to go on its own side of the field and quickly moved down inside the Coalers 10 down seven points. A high snap resulted in a fumble recovered by Coal City’s Donnie Ladas to give the Coalers possession with 1:46 left. Dixon used two timeouts, then Coal City star running back Landin Benson ran 8 yards, marked down inches shy of the first.

Coal City coach Francis Loughran had a decision to make. Punt the ball from his own 23 with 1:28 left or go for it to potentially ice the game but risk giving the ball back to the Dukes in prime scoring position. Loughran opted to hand it off to Benson.

Benson took the ball and punched it up the middle in a crowd. The officials gathered, separated and gave the signal.

First down Coalers, and Coal City knelt the clock out to advance to the 4A state semifinals.

“It’s really exciting right now,” Loughran said. “Seeing all of the work and effort you put in truly pay off with this is just great.”

The Dukes were the first team to put points on the board, as a 40-yard run by Landon Knigge helped set up a touchdown. Cullen Shaner was chased out of the pocket, stayed patient and hit an uncovered Eli Davidson for a short pass that Davidson ran 37 yards for a score with 5:01 left in the first.

Coal City responded on the final play of the first quarter when Zander Meents threw deep to Gabe McHugh, who hauled in the difficult catch, broke off a defender and stumbled into the end zone for a 38-yard touchdown to tie it.

The Coalers struck again less than two minutes later. After John Keigher recovered a Dixon fumble at the Dukes’ 20, Meents hooked up with McHugh for another touchdown pass, this one from 17 yards out, to put the Coalers up a touchdown.

Interceptions by McHugh and Dixon’s Tyson Dambman closed the half with the advantage 14-7 Coalers.

Dixon started the second half with the ball, and in less than three minutes the Dukes methodically marched down the field and capped off the drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Shaner to James Simpson. After an encroachment penalty on Coal City on the extra point, the Dukes opted to try for 2, but Davidson was stopped short, and the score was left 14-13.

The Coalers answered with a near perfect drive. They ran the ball down the field slowly but surely, taking eight minutes off the clock before a trick play saw Benson hit Gavin Berger for a 2-yard touchdown pass with 1:41 left in the quarter. However, the extra point was no good, leaving the score 20-13.

Dixon nearly tied the game to start the fourth quarter, as the Dukes were just shy of the red zone when Shaner was intercepted by Carter Gill. Coal CIty went three-and-out, though, and punted. A corresponding three-and-out by Dixon resulted in a punt, and it was pandemonium from there.

After a series of wild plays, Benson fumbled on third-and-inches, and Devon Wallace recovered for the Dukes to give them life. Dixon got down inside the 10 before Ladas made the fumble recovery and Benson got the first to send Coal City to next weekend’s semis.

Benson finished with 136 yards rushing to Knigge’s 93. Davidson caught 11 passes for 130 yards as the Dukes finish the year 10-2.

“I told my players, ‘Thank you, and I love you,’ ” Dukes coach Jared Shaner said, eyes filled with tears. “This group was truly a joy every day in practice. They’re tough kids who played really hard day in and day out. These guys did everything that we asked of them. It always hurts at the end, but I’m very, very proud of this team.”

Coal City (10-2) will host ninth-seeded DePaul College Prep next week with a trip to state on the line. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

“We’ve just got to keep rolling,” Benson said. “We’ve got to be perfect in all three phases of the game and keep rolling.”