Stockton trick play turns around third-quarter deficit, Blackhawks eliminate Forreston

If it works once, why not do it again? That’s how Stockton looked at the halfback pass when it needed to retake a lead on Forreston midway through the third quarter if their Saturday playoff game. Blackhawks senior quarterback Walker Olson handed off to classmate Connor Blair, who heaved a looping pass to a wide-open senior Morgan Haas for a touchdown with 6:20 to play in the quarter for a four-point lead. Then to add to their lead, Haas received the handoff for the following two-point try and shot put the ball over the line of scrimmage into Blair’s hands in the end zone, which extended a lead Stockton wouldn’t relinquish in an eventual 36-16 win at John O’Boyle Field. “I thought our guys didn’t blink,” Stockton coach Sean Downey said. “They did a good job to come out and hit us on a pass play, and our guys didn’t get rattled, didn’t get flustered. We came back, had a big pass play down the sideline there and kind of turned the momentum. “I thought we found another gear and finished the game well.” Olson started the game’s scoring with a 1-yard run 5:13 into the game. Nearly a minute into the second quarter, Forreston junior Gavin Hoffman took down Olson in the end zone for a safety to get his team on the board. Haas and Forreston senior quarterback Connor Politsch traded touchdowns in the second quarter before Politsch found senior Eli Ferris for a 24-yard touchdown pass with 9:39 left in the third quarter for a 16-14 Cardinals lead. After the halfback passes put Stockton ahead, junior Wyatt Record had a wide-open scoring play of his own, catching Olson’s pass with 2:10 to go in the third and running in for a 30-16 lead. Stockton had tried the halfback pass just once this season, but it was a potential touchdown that was called back, Haas said. “We had a couple of big plays to open it up,” Haas said. “The corner bit on [my] run, and I was wide open. The other one, we had run it a couple of more times and just saw Wyatt all open and just gave it a shot, and he was there.” Haas capped the scoring with a 47-yard run with 8:59 to play. Forreston’s best chance to score in the fourth quarter was picked off by Record at the Stockton 4 with 6:35 to play, with Olson distracting one of Politsch’s targets being a difference, Record said. “They had one high safety,” Record said, “so it kind of just brought three guys, two routes. One was deep, and he had to pick one, and Walker made him pay.” Haas and Blair combined for 218 rushing yards on 36 plays. Olson threw a few more passes against Forreston this time around – five – than the one he threw in the previous meeting. “We knew we were going to have opportunities in the pass game that we didn’t take advantage of in the first game,” Downey said. “I thought we could take advantage of some things in the past game. I thought Walker did a real good job hitting some big ones. “The first time they had shown us a little bit exotic defense that we hadn’t seen them run, and now this time we were a little more prepared for it.” Politsch finished with 212 yards of total offense – 109 on the ground, 103 in the air – to lead the Cardinals. “We had our opportunities,” Forreston coach Keynon Janicke said. “Offensively, we had too many stops on fourth down, too many turnovers, and Stockton didn’t make any mistakes today. They’re the better team today, and they’re the better team this year. They got us twice and have earned the right to keep going on.” Stockton advances to the quarterfinals, where it will play Fulton back at home next week as the last two NUIC teams remaining . The Blackhawks defeated the Steamers 44-14 on the road in Week 5. “This win means a lot,” Record said. “As a team, we’re all connected in a way, and we love each other as brothers. It’s a real big win, and we’re happy to get another one.”