Annawan-Wethersfield defeats Knoxville 27-19 in Lincoln Trail showdown
ANNAWAN — Annawan-Wethersfield won the showdown between two top Lincoln Trail Conference football teams Friday with a 27-19 win over Knoxville.
On Annawan’s homecoming, the host Titans won a game that was filled with big plays by both offenses.
Most of those big plays were runs by A-W’s Zeb Rashid and quarterback Dillon Horrie, and Knoxville’s Jaxin Johnson.
After a 10-play game-opening drive by the Titans ended with an interception by Knoxville’s Beau Honeycutt, the Blue Bullets put together a seven-play, 63-yard drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown run by Jackson.
Annawan-Wethersfield answered quickly, with a five-play, 62-yard drive. All of the plays were runs by Rashid and Horrie, who had runs of 16 and 29 yards to set up Rashid’s seven-yard TD run.
On Knoxville’s next possession the Titans appeared to have stopped the visitors, who were hampered by a holding penalty. But Johnson took a handoff at the Knoxville 48 and ran it in 52 yards to give the Blue Bullets a 13-7 lead.
It took Annawan-Wethersfield just three plays to tie the game, as junior Ashton Potter swept left end for a 35-yard touchdown run.
The Titans stopped Knoxville on its ensuing possession, and the Blue Bullets punt rolled dead at the A-W 4-yard line with just 1:45 left on the clock.
From there, A-W put together a nine-play drive that featured a 39-yard pass play from Potter to Landon Sauer that ended at the Knoxville 12. Two plays later Horrie ran it in from the 7 to give the hosts a 19-13 halftime lead.
A-W’s Mason Heitzler stopped Knoxville’s first second-half drive with an interception and return that gave the Titans the ball at their 39. The ensuing drive stalled, and the Titans punted to Knoxville’s 25.
The Blue Bullets then put together a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive in which Johnson carried eight times, including his two-yard TD run that tied the game at 19.
But the Titans answered with a 12-play drive of their own that ended with Rashid’s nine-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. Rashid’s PAT run put A-W up 27-19.
Knoxville had one last shot, as late in the fourth quarter they drove inside the A-W 20. But the Titans defense held them to a fourth-and-10 play from the 19 with just a minute left in the game.
Knoxville quarterback Beau Honeycutt found tight end Jacob Morris alone in the end zone. But Morris couldn’t hold on to Honeycutt’s pass, and the ball went over to the Titans.
Both teams are now 5-1 on the season. Next, Annawan-Wethersfield will go up against Stark County for Wethersfield’s homecoming, while Knoxville hosts Illini West.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: IHSA football: Annawan-Wethersfield defeats Knoxville in Lincoln Trail
