Vandals pound Gillespie, 52-13
Vandalia advances to playoffs for seventh straight season
Photos by Rich Bauer
Vandalia quarterback Andrew Kelly leaps over a Gillespie defender to cross the goal line for one of his six rushing touchdowns on Friday.
Andrew Kelly became the second Vandal in school history to rush for six touchdowns as Vandalia pounded Gillespie, 52-13.
Friday’s win secured a spot in the IHSA playoffs, marking the seventh consecutive year for postseason action for the Vandals.
Kelly’s six touchdowns tied the mark set by Robin Bone, who reached the end zone six times against Pana on Nov. 5, 1976.
The Vandals’ quarterback also accounted for two scores through the air, connecting with Kohnor Depew for two touchdowns.
Kelly had 15 carries for 158 yards, and completed five of eight passes for another 134 yards.
Photo by Rich Bauer
Vandalia defensive back Jack Lewis breaks up a Gillespie pass in the second half of Friday’s win.
Leading a stellar defensive effort were Justin Larimer and Brody Roberts.
Larimer had seven solo tackles, four assists, four tackles behind the line of scrimmage and a sack.
Roberts had six solo tackles and four assists, as well as one tackle behind the line of scrimmage and one sack.
Vandalia again jumped out to an early lead on Friday night.
Kanon Wollerman forced a fumble on Gillespie’s game-opening possession, and Kelly scored from 1 yard out 3½ minutes into the first quarter.
On the Vandals’ second possession, Kelly and Depew hooked up on a 43-yard scoring play.
Gillespie scored on a 7-yard pass play with 3½ minutes left in the first quarter, and that would be its only score until the fourth quarter.
Kelly added a second rushing touchdown in the first quarter and two more in the second quarter, and again connected with Depew on a scoring play as the Vandals took a 38-7 lead by halftime.
Now 6-2, the Vandals now will face a much-improved Litchfield squad this Friday night to close out the regular season.
Litchfield is 5-3 on the season after upsetting Pana on Friday night and likely will gain its first postseason nod since 2005 regardless of Friday’s outcome, as five-team wins in a closed conference has always resulted in a playoffs nod.
It would have been easy for the Vandals to coast through last Friday’s game, given that Gillespie was winless this season. But that would not be the case.
“That’s always your fear, (that you take someone too lightly), but I think our guys did a good job of respecting them, and they’ve got some good players,” Vandals coach Jason Clay said.
“They did a nice job playing some of our running plays, but we were able to get some chunks and get in the end zone enough,” he said.
Photos by Rich Bauer
Vandalia running back Jay Keck follows teammate Kanon Wollerman to pick up yardage against Gillespie.
“We talked about coming out and taking care of business,” he said.
“We had a little bit of a downpour (in the first half), but we were still able to move the ball.
“We gave up a little bit there, but we did a good job of rallying back and were able to finish in the second half,” Clay said.
“We had an opportunity earlier in the season to finish the game the right way, and we weren’t able to do that.
“When you’ve got a chance to put it away, that’s the thing that we talked about at halftime, and our guys did a good job of that,” he said.
“Surely, there will be things to work on, but there were a lot of good things that came out of the night,” Clay said.
JV defeated Gillespie, 48-6, on Monday.
Freshmen defeated Salem, 46-0, last Friday to stay unbeaten. Finish at home Thursday against Staunton.
