Speed kills for Kewanee in big win over Hall

KEWANEE – It would be easy to picture Melcon DeJesus and Tayvian Taylor making a nice relay team for the Kewanee track team.

DeJesus, in fact, is a state medalist, placing fifth in the Class 2A 400-meter dash in 2019. He used his state track speed to run for an 86-yard kickoff return to paydirt Friday and set up another touchdown with a long reception down to the goal line as the Boilermakers claimed a 21-point halftime lead.

His big plays, along with runs by the fleet-footed Taylor, sparked the Boilermakers to a 42-15 victory over Hall in Three Rivers Mississippi Conference play.

“DeJesus was a kid who when I got here last year was questionable if he was coming out for football or not. And I said, ‘Dude, you’re a baller. We’ll get you the football,’ ” Kewanee coach Brad Swanson said. “He’s got the burners. He had that kickoff return and that nice pass. And he’s loving it. The kids are loving it.”

DeJesus’ kickoff return was especially a momentum changer for the Boilermakers.

Hall scored on a 12-yard pass from quarterback Gabe Lucas to Otto Fronzcke as time expired in the first quarter, making it 14-7.

Before the few Hall fans who were in attendance could sit down, DeJesus raced 86 yards down the sideline for a Boilermaker touchdown to put his team back up by 14 points.

“Yeah, that takes the wind out your sails. Not only that, [but] two of our long, big touchdowns called back by penalties, too,” Hall coach Nick Guerrini said. “Special teams can lose or win games. It didn’t necessarily lose this game for us, but it definitely put us in that spot in the game.”

DeJesus also hauled in a 55-yard reception, diving for the goal line only to have his knee hit on the 1-yard line. Quarterback Will Bruno took care of the rest, diving in for the 1-yard score to put the Boilermakers up, 28-7, at the half.

Kewanee built its lead to 42-7 with Taylor scoring his second touchdown of the night on a 3-yard pitch in the quarter and Keyontiss Patterson adding a 3-yard run in the fourth.

“We’ve got Will Bruno at quarterback, and he just keeps getting better and better every game. So he’s kind of the leader out there. Shows a lot of leadership as a junior,” Swanson said. “Then we’ve got Tayvian back there, and try to find ways to get him the ball, and he can make things happen.

“Everybody took their turn on offense. We’ve got some speedsters, some guys that I want to spread it out and get the ball to, and they did a nice job.”

Taylor gained 173 yards and two touchdowns on 17 rushes.

Dominic Guerrini scored late with a 1-yard run to cap a nice Hall drive.

Hall (1-3) will close out the season at home next week against Rockridge.

“We’ll keep fighting. We’ve got one game left. I think we got a little bit banged up. We’ll get back together Monday and see what we have,” Guerrini said. “Rockridge is a good team, too, so we’re going to prepare like we normally do and come back and play.”