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Washington Evening Journal
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Pekin survives North Linn in postseason opener
Panthers hold off Lynx for Class A first round win
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
PACKWOOD — Pekin football did what it needed to on Friday night to pick up its first Class A postseason victory of the season.
The Panthers were able to hold off North Linn 28-20 in the opening round bout.
“I’m on top of the world right now,” Pekin senior quarterback Will Adam said. “This team has worked hard all year. We’ve been wanting this since June 1st.”
The two squads were tied at 14s at the half and were nearly dead even through the second.
However, the Panther’s Will Adam took over late.
With just 5:04 left in the third, the Pekin quarterback darted through the North Linn defense for a 54-yard touchdown run to give the Panthers a 21-14 lead.
The Lynx responded with a touchdown of their own on a 36-yard touchdown pass, but after a holding call negated the two point try and pushed them back, Adam picked off the passing attempt to keep Pekin in the lead.
North Linn forced the Pekin offense off the field on the ensuing drive, but the Panthers forced and recovered a fumble on the Lynx first play to take the ball at the North Linn 39 yard line with 8:29 to play.
Pekin had a great opportunity to make it an eight or nine point game in Lynx territory, but the Panthers turned it over on their first play as well.
The Panthers were picked off, setting the Lynx up around midfield.
“We knew if we hung our heads on it (the turnover) they were going to take advantage,” Adam said. “It had to be next play. We couldn’t give anything up. It was a team effort. Everyone did their part.”
North Linn couldn’t convert and then the lights went out, literally.
After the lighting issue was solved, Pekin was forced to punt, but after another North Linn turnover, the Panthers were able to capitalize.
A hit by the Panther’s Alton Williams to the North Linn quarterback caused an errant throw and Henry Adams was there to pick it off.
Adam returned the ball to the Lynx 32 with 3:03 to go.
On the Panthers possession, a 22-yard run by Will Adam set up a one-yard touchdown run himself to make it a 28-20 ball game.
On the kickoff, the Panthers elected to onside kick and it paid off.
The Lynx weren’t able to coral the ball and the Panthers got it back with 2:09 to go. Without any North Linn timeouts, all Pekin needed to do was get a first down.
Pekin couldn’t get it, giving the Lynx the ball with just over a minute to play, but time wasn’t on their side.
Will Adam finished the game with 43 yards passing and 191 yards on the ground with two touchdowns.
Riley Smith ended with 51 yards rushing. Henry Adam followed with 50 yards and on touchdown. Nolan Glick had a touchdown as well.
On the receiving end, Smith caught two passes for 16 yards. Robert Brown finished with four catches for 15 yards. Glick had 12 yards on one catch.
Defensively, Will Adam and Caden Bender each had 6.5 tackles. Bender also had three tackles for a loss.
“We can’t be turning the ball over,” Adam said of the next round. “The teams are only going to get better and better. We’re going to have to play up and near perfect. If we want to keep going, it’s going to have to be better and better each week.”
With the win, Pekin improves to 8-1 and will take on Madrid (7-2) in the second round on the road.
Other scores from around the area are as follows.
Mid-Prairie 35, Union Community 7
WACO 39, Central City 16
Maquoketa Valley 61, Columbus 13
Montezuma 61, Winfield-Mt. Union 54
West Branch 41, Sigourney-Keota 33
