Nokomis runs past Arcola, 63-21

Arcola senior QB Brevyn Whisman (3) lunges over the goal line to score 2 on a PAT on Fri., Oct. 24 at Thomas-Bradford Field in Arcola. The Purple Riders played their final game of the season losing to Nokomis 63-21. Photo by Nancy Rairden.

By Mike Monahan

ARCOLA – Nokomis, a team that needed a win to assure itself of the fourth trip to the IHSA Class 1A playoffs, scored on its first two plays and went on to win 63-21 over Arcola. Arcola is in a co-op with Cerro Gordo/Bement and will be next year as well as a co-op is at least a two-year agreement.

It was senior night for the Purple Riders, who lose seven players due to graduation. The flag corps, band and cheerleading seniors were also honored with their parents or guardians prior to the contest.

Arcola had a bad punt snap on its first drive giving Nokomis, who entered the game averaging 29.7 points per game, had Colby Wilson on the receiving end of a 30-yard pass from Kannon Jonas. The extra point failed, but Nokomis, 6-3, had the lead for good.

Arcola went three and out and Nokomis took over on its own 22 when Nolan Herpstrieth ran down the Nokomis sideline 78 yards. Petty ran in for the two-point conversion.

Arcola got help from a 37 yard kickoff return by Quentin Nevius giving Arcola the ball on the Redskin 45. A 38 yard pass from Whisman to Canton Wesch on a fourth and six kept the drive alive and Nevius scored on a four-yard pass from Whisman.

Nokomis took just three plays to score its third touchdown on a 70-yard pass from Jonas to Petty, who tacked on the extra point for the final point of the first quarter and a 21-6 Nokomis lead.

“We have been working on it (mix run and pass) all year,” said Nokomis coach Paul Wilson. “Every week we get better with it. We are going to need it heading into the post season. We are with that especially with everybody loading the box with our run game.”

Nokomis stopped Arcola on a fourth and 11 on its own 49. The Purple Riders made Nokomis work down the field this time as it took nine plays to go 49 yards. A fourth and one run by Daryl Evans kept the drive going and Herpstreith scored for a 28-6 lead with 8:50 left in the half.

“Evans is the fullback and runs downhill and we have been trying to get him to step away from people instead of stepping into people to hit him,” said Wilson. “I feel like he left a lot of yards out there just for the fact he loves hitting people. Herpstreith is quick and elusive and runs hard and does a good job that way. It is good to have both players.”

The second half started off strong as Eli Corpus picked off a Nokomis pass and the Purple Riders took just four plays to go 61 yards with Wesch on the receiving end of a 47-yard TD pass from Whisman. Whisman ran in for the two-point conversion for a 42-14 score.

Nokomis answered with a 25-yard pass from Jonas to Konnor Reynolds.

Fittingly Arcola’s last touchdown was when Whisman hooked up with Corpus for the 38th time and sixth time for a TD. This one was a 10-yard play and on a fourth and six.

It was 56-21 when Nokomis scored with under a minute left on an eight-yard run by Nic Hutson.

At halftime Medina said to the players, “Play hard and they did all the way to the end,”. I called a time-out (with less than 10 seconds left) and the official asked me if I wanted a time out. I said,’yes’. I wanted a time-out because that is what we are here to do, play football.”

Whisman hit Corpus one more time, this one for 52 yards at the end of the game. Whisman finished his career with his best game in terms of yardage. The senior was 19 of 37 for 248 yards with two interceptions and for the second straight week threw three touchdown passes. For the season he was 82 of 185 with 13 interceptions and nine touchdowns for 970 yards. Corpus finished with 37 receptions for 563 yards and six touchdowns. Arcola was held to negative four yards rushing. Wesch led AHS in receiving in the game with seven catches for 135 yards and a touchdown.

“Nokomis knew we were going to be passing and it still worked,” said Medina, whose team finished 1-7. “That, to me, is a positive because they knew what was coming and know we are one dimensional and it still worked, but obviously you have to block better in order to do that. It was frustrating at the beginning because I think the senior night activities kind of got to us a little bit. We were just a little flat. Nokomis came out and got after it right away. We fought back and when we had that touchdown we had some energy going. It is hard if you don’t have that from the beginning.”

As for going from assistant coach (at St. Thomas More) Medina said, “At the beginning the biggest thing was getting the coaches to understand my way of doing stuff. We had a few rough spots, but they got on the same page and they knew what my expectations were. I wanted them to grow. I didn’t want to micromanage them and I know that it comes with growing pains because it is the same way a coach gave me the first opportunity to coach (offensive coordinator). I had to do the individual things and that is what I am trying to do; coach the coaches and players.”

Nokomis earned the 12th seed and play Tuscola, the No. 5 seeded team at Tuscola on Saturday at 3 p.m.

“We need numbers and consistency in the offseason,” said Medina, who was hired in June. “I felt we were better today than we were in week one even though we gave up 63 points. We are a lot better team and that gets pushed back if you start it in the offseason. It peaks around

August instead of at the end of October. If we get that figured out we will be where we want to be.We did the best we could.”

Nokomis 21 21 7 14–63
Arcola 6 0 8 7–21

First quarter
N-Colby Wilson 30 pass from Kannon Jonas (kick failed) 9:40
N-Nolan Herpstreith 78 run (Kadynn Petty run) 7:57
A-Quentin Nevius 4 pass from Brevyn Whisman (kick failed) 4:49
N-Petty 70 pass from Jones (Petty kick) 3:27

Second quarter
N-Herpstrieth 1 run (Petty kick) 8:50
N-Levi German 1 run (Petty kick) 7:07
N-Herpstreith 1 run (Petty kick) 2.8

Third quarter
A-Canton Wesch 47 pass from Whisman (Whisman run) 6:57
N-Konnor Reynolds 25 pass from Jonas (Petty kick) 2:36

Fourth quarter
A-Eli Corpus 14 pass from Whisman (Cesar Rivera kick) 11:48
N-Daryl Evans 5 run (Petty kick) 8:34
N-Nic Hutson 8 run (Petty kick) 56.9

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Nokomis: Kannon Jonas 1-4; Nolan Herpstreith 10-127, 3 TDs; Daryl Evans 16-112, TD; Kadynn Petty 3-10; Levi German 1-1, TD; Aaron Brown 2-34; Nic Hutson 1-8, TD; Lane Herpstreith 1-15; Totals 35-297, 6 TDs
Arcola: Brevyn Whisman 5-(-27), David Bates 2-5; Brody Drake 11-36; Cesar Rivera 2-(-16); Totals 19-(-4), 0 TDs
Passing
Nokomis: Jonas 8-9-1-165, 3 TDs
Arcola: Whisman 19-37-2-248, 3 TDs
Receiving
Nokomis Petty 3-90, TD; Colby Wilson 2-39, TD; Konnor Reyonlds 3-36, TD
Arcola: Ronnie Vega 3-14; Canton Wesch 7-135, TD; Eli Corpus 4-73, TD; Drake 1-6; Quentin Nevius 4-20, TD
Total plays-yards
Nokomis: 44-462, 9 TDs
Arcola: 56-244, 3 TDs