Villa Grove football history
By Tony Hooker
Week six in VG football history was a good one, as four of the five teams in the spotlight saw victories.
1970
Beat Sullivan, move into three-way tie for first in the conference
The Villa Grove defense was the star of the game, picking off four Redskin passes and holding them to seven yards on one completion, as the Blue Devils pounded previously undefeated Sullivan 30-6 for a homecoming victory. Homecoming king John Beccue returned a kickoff 83 yards for a score and a punt 45 yards for another as the special teams, led by up front blockers Butch Donahoo and Alan Reinhart, accounted for 213 yards in returns. Rick Carr rushed for 128 yards on eight carries and passed for another 119, including a 26-yard scoring strike to Mike Parsley, who had 100 yards receiving. Austin Rund tacked on a three-yard scoring run for the Blue Devils and Steve Melton had a pair of interceptions.
1980
The Blue Devils remained in second place in the LOVC with a win over Bement
Ken Schwengel threw for 139 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another 55 as VGHS pounded out a tough 18-7 win over the Bulldogs. Brent Shunk hauled in eight catches for 125 yards and a score, Mike Mayes had 82 yards and two touchdowns, and Bob Reardon rushed for 61 yards on nine carries. Steve Waymire led the defense with 12 tackles and Brian Willis had 11. Kirk Rogers and Scott Hatchel each had QB sacks to quell Bement drives.
1990
Joust Knights, hold on to first place in LOVC
VG defeated Arthur 50-0 as Aaron Johnson rushed for 245 yards and two TD’s on 33 carries and Eric Sigler added 137 yards and two TD’s on just 12 carries to lead the way. Chris Vandeventer threw a 70-yard TD pass to Mike Waltrip, tossed a two-point conversion to Curt Kuetemeyer and scored a two-point conversion of his own to help the cause, and Jeremy Jones added a 15-yard scoring romp to round out the scoring. Defensively, the Devils were led by Mike Patridge, who had seven tackles.
2000
Felled by Oaks
The Blue Devils fell to a tough Oakland squad 49-8. Jason Eversole hit David Piercy for a 24-yard TD, and Justin Prosser had a QB sack in the end zone for VGHS. JR Wilcoxen led the defense with ten tackles, while Vinny Thomas and Rod Alexander each had 6 stops.
2010
Unsaddle Riders, maintain undefeated season
Jesse Shrum rushed for four TD’s and caught a ten-yard TD pass from Eric Douglas as VG defeated Arcola 42-7. Douglas also scored on a two-yard plunge for the Devils, who moved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference with the win.