A look back at Villa Grove football history
By Tony Hooker
A close loss, a close win and three blow-out victories mark this week in Blue Devil football history.
1970
The Blue Devils dropped their second contest of the season, a 20-12 decision to Tuscola. After trailing 14-0 at the half, Austin Rund scored on a four-yard run, and John Beccue scored on a one-yard plunge for VG. The Villa Grove news players of the week were Allan Reinhart on both offensive and defensive lines, John Beccue was offensive back of the week, and Randy Stillman was defensive back of the week. Steve Melton shared defensive line honors with Reinhart. Larry Ring led Tuscola, rushing for 185 yards and all three Warrior touchdowns.
1980
A fired-up Villa Grove squad pounded out 211 yards on the ground and swamped Oakland 51-14 in VG’s homecoming contest. Mike Mayes scored from 20 yards out just 2 minutes into the contest and Paul Arnold intercepted an Oakland pass just seconds later to regain possession for VG. Ken Schwengel then hit Brent Shunk for 11 yards and then found Shunk again, but this time Shunk pitched to Mayes on the flea flicker for another 21 yards. On the next play from scrimmage, Schwengel hit Arnold for the 11-yard score. Mayes then ran in the 2-point conversion and the score stood at 14-0 with 5:43 left in the first quarter. Disaster struck for Oakland as they fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Tony Hooker and Todd Schmidt each pounced on the pigskin, with Schmidt sitting on the ball and Hooker covering Schmidt. Three plays later, Bob Reardon raced 34 yards to the endzone, and the rout was officially on at 22-0. Backup QB Glenn Reinhart then called his own number from the 1 and scored, and Greg Johnson tacked on the 2-point conversion to make the score 32-0 at the half. The Oaks then fumbled again on the second play of their first possession of the half and VG quickly made them pay, with Schwengel finding Shunk for 20 yards before Mike Mayes took it in for the score. Substituting liberally on defense, VG gave up a pair of scores to the Oaks, and the score stood at 39-14 with 4:34 left. Fielding the ensuing kickoff, Shunk pitched to Schwengel, who raced 73 yards untouched down the sideline to make it 45-14. The Oaks’ next drive ended when Steve Waymire took the ball out of the Oakland QB’s hands and raced to the Oak 15 before being tripped up. Gregg Scoggins then ran 10 yards to the 5, before taking it in to set the final score at 51-14. Waymire led the Devils D with 9 tackles. Phil Wegeng had 4 and Brian Willis added 3. Greg Simpson recovered a fumble for the Blue Devils.
1990
Aaron Johnson rushed for 159 yards and 4 TD’s (6,10,1,10) and Eric Sigler rushed for 168 yards on 8 carries, including scoring runs of 88 and 10 yards, as Villa Grove bounced the Bement Bulldogs 45-16. Villa Grove outgained Bement 352-90, as Chris Vandeventer’s 30-yard pass to Mike Waltrip set up the Devils’ final tally of the first half. Vandeventer and Waltrip also hooked up for the two-point conversion as the Devils took a 29-8 lead into the locker room. Defensively, VG was led by Carl Brown and Mike Patridge, who had eight solo tackles each.
2000
The Blue Devil defense bowed their necks and stopped an East Central drive at their own 6 yard line with less than a minute remaining as VG defeated the Panthers 14-8. Rod Alexander had a 73 yard kick off return and was perfect on both P.A.T’s, and Justin Carr connected with David Piercy for a 68-yard scoring strike.
2010
Eric Douglas rushed for two touchdowns (44,1) and threw for two more (13,33) to lead Villa Grove to a 54-6 win over Martinsville. Earvin Westray had a 61-yard punt return for a touchdown, and Jon Bretz took one 52 yards for a score for VG. Eric Lake and Jesse Schrum had receiving TD’s, and Schrum also rushed for 139 yards, including a 15-yard TD run. Big Jason Deedrick got in on the scoring fun, returning a fumble 38 yards to set the final margin as the first half ended. Cody Miller continued to be a secret weapon for the Devils, converting 6 of 7 P.A.T’s.