Rocks blank Alleman
for share of WB6 title
By Marc Nesseler, Sports editor
Tears were replaced by cheers Friday night at Moline's Browning Field for offensive
tackle Mike Leonard and his Rock Island football teammates.
``I caught myself looking up several times asking the Lord to help me through this,''
said Leonard, a Rocky senior whose 23-year-old brother, Rob, died just five days earlier.
``It was very tough. I had my (black) wristband (bearing his brother's initials) to help
me through it.''
Spurred by the inspiration of Leonard's determination, as well as his running
back-springing blocks, the Rocks rolled past Alleman 34-0, clinching a share of the
Western Big 6 Conference championship. Matching Moline with a 4-1 WB6 record, the 7-1
Rocks also earned the league's automatic playoff bid via head-to-head competition.
In the Rocks' postgame huddle, however, the excitement of the championship moment took
a back seat to the realization that there are much more important things in life. Things
such as friendship and support win out, even in times of celebration. Leonard stoically
stood and thanked his teammates and coaches on behalf of his family. The RI players had
100 percent turnout for Rob Leonard's funeral visitation.
``I'm very proud of him,'' RI's Chris McFarland said of Leonard. McFarland lines up
next to Leonard at offensive guard. ``I can't imagine what he's going through. I was best
friends with Chad Duncan (whose brother Shane, an RI football player, died three years
ago), and, in terms of support, we had to do the same thing for Mike.
``You know these are tough times. You help out in any way you can, whether it's with a
hug or help on the offensive line.''
The Rocks followed the blocks of Leonard and McFarland on the right side for their
first two touchdowns, both by fullback John Saldana. They came on RI's first five plays,
one for 43 yards and the other for 52, in the game's first six minutes.
``That felt good,'' said senior classmate Brandin Smith, a receiver who caught a
50-yard pass from Tom DeBroeck in the third quarter to close out the scoring. ``It was one
TD for Mike and one for his brother. One for both.
``I know it's been hard on him. It's been hard on all of us. We've got to be there for
Mike and just do what he needs us to do.''
Posting up a conference-championship win in a shutout manner went a long way toward
that.
``I have a great family (of teammates) here that helped me pull through,'' said
Leonard.
The Rocks added two other long touchdowns by Dillon Smith, of 31 and 57 yards in the
first half. Of RI's 209 first-half rushing yards, 183 came on the four TD runs.
Otherwise, Alleman dominated the clock and number of plays from scrimmage. Alleman had
a 3-to-1 advantage in time of possession. The Pioneers (3-5, 2-3 in the WB6) had 66
rushing plays, twice as many as the Rocks.
Too, Alleman had a 17-play, first-half drive that ended at the RI 19, and two
second-half drives of 15 plays that were stopped on the RI 5 and then by the end of the
game.
There were only four drives in the second half, and the first one ended in just four
plays with Brandin Smith's TD reception. Thirty plays by Alleman and a 16-play drive by RI
ended in no points.
Leading the Alleman ground game was Chris Morlok with 114 yards on 22 carries. RI's
Dillon Smith ended with 128 yards on eight carries. DeBroeck had his best passing game of
the season, completing 5-of-7 for 117 yards.
-- Alleman sophs move to 6-2: Alleman's sophomores improved to 6-2, 3-2 in the
WB6, with a 21-12 win over RI. First-half TDs by Jeremy Hauer and Vince Lind put Alleman
up 14-6 at the half. The icing came on a fourth-quarter 10-yard TD run by Robert Barlow.
Copyright 2001, Moline Dispatch
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