Another playoff game, another IC rout
CLIFTON - After a regular-season struggle just to make the playoffs, Immaculate Conception awaited its first postseason challenge on Saturday.
The Knights are still waiting.
It was another game, another blowout for Immaculate Conception's football team, which rolled to a 52-14 victory over host Clifton Central in the Class 2A semifinals.
The Knights (9-4), Class 3A champs in 2002, will vie for the program's second state title at 1 p.m. next Saturday at the University of Illinois in Champaign. They'll play Casey-Westfield (13-0), which beat Auburn 27-13.
Fifteenth-seeded Immaculate Conception, the lowest-seeded team to advance to a title game since No. 29 Glenbard North reached the 6A final in 2000, expanded its average postseason margin of victory to 32 points by beating the Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 7 seeds.
"All that matters is the 11 guys on the field on both teams," said Knights lineman Josh Fenton. "If our 11 are beating their 11, it doesn't matter where we are. It doesn't matter who we're playing. We're winning the game."
The No. 5 Comets (10-3) did little with their spread offense. The Knights' first-team defense used a flurry of sacks to allow minus-27 first-half rushing yards and has now allowed only 12 points in four playoff games.
Immaculate Conception's offense, meanwhile, rolled for 345 rushing yards led by Paul Hornstra's 166 yards and 3 touchdowns, and 92 yards and a touchdown by Carlos Rodriguez.
Hornstra's 20-yard touchdown run on the opening drive was followed by a safety off a bad punt snap. Rodriguez scored from 30 yards out on the next possession to give the Knights a 17-0 lead four minutes into the game.
After Clifton Central pulled within 17-6 early in the second quarter, the Knights rattled off 35 straight points and had the running clock going the entire fourth quarter.
"Right from the beginning we got them down right away," Hornstra said. "Even though we came into the playoffs at 5-4 we knew we were better than that. We knew we were going to do some damage."
Quarterback Will Cronin, who added 64 rushing yards, scored on a 1-yard run just before halftime to boost the lead to 31-6 at the break.
Hornstra, Antonio Taylor and Cody Kotlow ran for third-quarter touchdowns before Comets quarterback Trent Faulkner, who completed 14 of 30 passes for 164 yards, threw a 1-yard touchdown pass in the game's waning minutes.
"We're playing at a real high level right now," said Knights coach Bill Schmidt. "It doesn't matter what comes their way, they're able to overcome it."