Beloit Turner can't keep up in 32-0 loss to Sterling

BELOIT — While the lopsided final score of 32-0 wouldn’t suggest it, Beloit Turner head coach Grant McLain was proud of the defensive effort his squad showed against Sterling.

Heck, if it wasn’t for the remarkable leg of Golden Warriors’ kicker Ryan Gebhard the Trojans’ ‘D’ could have held the Illinois perennial powerhouse to just three scores.

But on the offensive side? McLain was straightforward about the lack of success.

“We gotta be more consistent,” the second-year coach said. “We had moments and flashes of good things, but we were inconsistent. We have to make sure we are dialed in all day long.”

The Trojans (2-4, 1-2 Capitol) struggled mightily running the ball once again, accumulating just 69 yards from the back field as they were shut out in the non-conference loss on an unseasonably warm and clear Friday night.

In wins against Parkview/Albany and Big Foot, the Trojans combined for 412 rushing yards. But they’ve only managed 148 yards in their four losses for an average of 37 yards per game.

{p dir=”ltr”}Turner struggled to get its runners past the line of scrimmage with the Warriors’ big lineman barreling through. And QB Jaxon Walenga was often on the run, making a passing game hard to develop and forcing the Trojans to try and convert on third-and-longs.

{p dir=”ltr”}“Up front, we knew (Sterling) was going to move around on us and give us a couple of different looks,” McLain said “We needed to communicate those things up front, and we didn’t see it early enough or communicate enough up front, which led to our struggles in the run game.”

{p dir=”ltr”}Walenga went 6-for-11 for 53 yards and added 23 with his legs. Ingram paced the receiving corps with 36 yards as Turner finished with 156 total offensive yards and nine first downs, although four of those came on the Trojans’ final drive with the win out of reach.

Penalties were also a big factor in drives stalling out Turner was flagged seven times for 80 yards, with several of those coming via unsportsmanlike conduct.

“We need to be more consistent across the board,” McLain said. “That’s going to be the name of the game.”

Turner’s steady defense limited the Warriors to just eight first downs and 267 total yards. Gebhardt’s three field goals, two of which were longer than 30 yards, along with a safety masked some of the defense’s efforts.

“He’s a dynamite kicker that’s probably going to play at the next level,” McLain said.

Sterling (3-2), which has missed the playoffs just twice in 22 years, looked steady out of the gate. After punting on its initial drive, senior QB Drew Nettleton threw for 172 of his 182 total passing yards on three-straight scoring drives.

Nettleton’s favorite target? Kaedon Phillips, who he hit for a 33-yard score to make it 7-0. He then found his teammate for catches of 16 and 19 on the next possesion to set up a 1-yard rushing score from the QB.

It became a three-score game after Nettleton hit Deseo Ibarra-Castillo for a 44-yard play and then found Phillips for a 20-yard score.

“In the beginning, we fell apart on our coverage,” sophomore safety Peyton Tucker said. “We just needed to do a little bit of jamming to slow (Nettleton) down.”

Right when the Warriors looked like they were going to run away with it, the Trojans’ defense stepped up.

A fumbled snap resulted in Sterling recovering the ball and taking possession at the Trojans’ 36-yard line but a sack by freshman Kayden Jordan forced a punt.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty spoiled Turner’s drive, but the Warriors’ returner on the ensuing punt was walloped by Tucker, who forced a fumble that teammate Chris Spencer fell on.

“I saw that there was no gunner, so I just took that spot,” Tucker said. “I didn’t see him fair catch it. I’m like, ‘Oh, this is my chance.’ I was so pumped after that.”

Sterling forced and recovered a fumble to get the ball back at Turner’s 25, but the Trojans’ secondary forced three incomplete passes, holding the Warriors to Gebhardt’s 41-yard field goal that made it 24-0 at halftime.

A poor kick return and penalty backed the Trojans up to their own end zone after the second-half kickoff and a fumbled snap resulted in a safety.

The Warriors threatened when Phillips pulled in a catch one-handed and sprinited down the sideline for a 52-yard pick up, but the Trojans’ defense stood tall again, stuffing two runs and forcing an incompletion to force Sterling to settle for Gebhardt’s 22-yard field goal to up it to 29-0.

“Those are big time momentum savers,” McLain said. “We could easily give up a tuddy right away and have the wind knocked out of our sails. Getting that momentum back little by little in those moments is big”

The defense helped quell the bleeding one last time after a Turner interception put the Warriors in Trojans’ territory again. Two-straight runs went no where before Carter Atkinson sacked Neddleton to force a 30-yard field goal.

“Defensively, we pride ourselves on never wavering,” McLain said. “We stay true to our beliefs and our values of playing hard, never giving up. There’s always a chance that the next play is going to be our opportunity to make one.”

With Walenga suffering a few bumps and bruises, McLain used a majority of the second half to get a look at the other three QBs on the depth chart.

JP Roche led three drives, Tucker came in but strictly handed off or ran the ball, finishing with 37 yards on five carries. Even freshman Case Ehret threw a pass, a 20-yard toss to Ingram.

Turner will look to rebound when it travels to play against Horicon/Hustisford on Friday at 7 p.m.

“We dug our heels in and fought,” McLain said.”That’s what I love about these guys. If we want to try and make a run at this thing, it’s got to be 1-0 each week.”

• BOXSCORE:

STERLING 32, BELOIT TURNER 0

Sterling…….. 7 17 5 3 — 32

Turner……….. 0 0 0 0 — 0

S — Phillips, 33, pass from Nettleton (Gebhardt kick)

S — Nettleton, 1, run (Gebhardt kick)

S — Phillips, 21, pass from Nettleton (Gebhardt kick)

S — Gebhardt, 41, field goal

S — Safety

S — Gebhardt, 22, field goal

S — Gebhardt, 30, field goal

TEAM STATS: First downs — S 8, T 9. Rushing {span id=”docs-internal-guid-97c67eea-7fff-2e8f-d3dd-b100a8ea4ba7”}{span}—{/span}{/span} S 31-85, T 29-69. Passing — S 182, T 87. Passes — S 20-10-0, T 18-10-1. Fumbles — S 3-1, T 4-1. Punts — S 4-28.3, T 7-29.6. Penalties — S 4-30, T 7-80.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS: Rushing — S, Ibarra-Castillo 4-60, Shipma 10-20. T, Tucker 5-37, Walenga 14-23. Smith 4-18, Ingram 1-16. Passing — T, Walenga 11-6-0, 53, Roche 6-3-1, 14, Erhardt 1-1-0, 20. S, Nettleton 20-10-0, 182. Receiving — S, Phillips 5-133. T, Ingram 2-36, Dotson 4-23, Noack 1-27.