'Coming together': Jacksonville Routt celebrates 100 years of football in style
JACKSONVILLE — Barry Creviston said his team’s shutout win wasn’t flawless. It was pretty darned close though, coach.
The Jacksonville Routt defense limited Concord Triopia to 12 yards rushing and 23 yards passing in the first half en route to a 48-0 Western Illinois Valley Conference North Division win at Freesen Field on Saturday.
“That was an excellent first half,” said Creviston, in his second tenure as the Rockets’ coach. “Those guys wanted to get this monkey off their back, move forward and they did a fantastic job running our offense and the defense did an awesome job as well.”
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It was the first time Routt beat Triopia for the "Original Rivalry" trophy since 2010. The rivalry between the two Morgan County schools began in 1959 after Triopia was formed. Triopia owns a 46-19-2 edge in the rivalry. Including a 2011 Class 1A first-round playoff game, the Trojans had beaten the Rockets 12-straight times.
"We were so ready to play these guys," Routt quarterback Kohen Hoots said. "We've been preparing since the middle of the summer to play them."
The Rockets (5-2) qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2018 and ends a string of three-straight two-win seasons, including an injury-plagued 2021. Creviston was 42-20 in six seasons from 2003-08 and took Routt to the playoffs in his last five seasons there. He returned in 2018 and immediately ended a six-year playoff drought.
It was quite the way to celebrate on the day Routt recognized its 100-year anniversary of high school football. Former players and cheerleaders were honored before the game and at halftime. Routt’s first game came on Oct. 7, 1922 — a 76-0 loss to Roodhouse. Ouch.
Routt senior running back Will Jackson ran roughshod over the Trojans’ defense for 131 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries while quarterback Kohen Hoots, a senior, diced up Triopia with pinpoint accuracy and finished 9-for-10 with 144 yards and three TD throws — two to Dax Baptist.
“I think that’s everyone coming together playing as a team throughout the week,” Hoots said.
The win avenged a 42-0 loss to Triopia a year ago in the annual rivalry game.
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“We had our druthers and we just keep plugging along,” Creviston said. “We knew this group coming up was a good one and I would’ve hoped it happened last year but there was a lot of injury. We’ve really stayed healthy this year. It was a great team win.”
Senior receiver and defensive back Aiden Lahey finished with 53 yards of offense — 30 rushing on two carries, two catches for 23 yards — and intercepted Triopia quarterback Jake Mueller twice. His interceptions were a couple of the handful of times the Trojans’ offense wasn’t stopped at the line of scrimmage — or behind it.
"I'd say I was just there," Lahey said. "I was very ready for the pass. I would say in past years I was bad about letting them throw it over my head so I was ready (for the interceptions) this time; I wasn't going to let it happen again."
Those were Lahey's first interceptions this season. Of course they came against his team's biggest rival.
"We've been waiting for this moment for the last 11 years," Lahey said. "And for us (the seniors), the last four."
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Jacksonville Routt football celebrates 100 years with win over Triopia
