By John Ring
Published in The Burg September 16, 2021
STERLING - The Silver Streak football team fell to 0-3 on Friday night, losing in the toughest way imaginable to Sterling.
The Streaks built a 21-6 lead but allowed 18 points to the Golden Warriors in the fourth quarter, losing on a last second field goal after Sterling’s last drive took them inside the Galesburg five-yard line. Sterling scored two touchdowns and that fatal field goal on their last three possessions. It was a tough way to lose.
It was tough because that’s been the Streaks trend. In all three of their 2021 losses, Galesburg has been very competitive and at times brilliant but as the game goes on they start to wear down. That and momentum changes are costly as well.
Both are common at the high school level. Many schools have ‘two way’ players (both offense and defense) and the fatigue factor catches up with them all at some point. Momentum swings are constant in a game as well and it’s tough to turn those around.
This has been the trend over the last several years with the Streaks. It’s far better than the
teams that were simply not competitive and on the wrong end of consecutive running clocks for the better part of a decade. It was genuinely painful going to go those games and the patterns were remarkably the same. The Streaks would be competitive for the first quarter, fall behind in the second quarter and the train came off the rails in the second half.
So the bottom line right now is that the Silver Streaks are competitive in a tough conference (Western Big 6) but they just can’t get over the hump yet. It would seem that their two biggest concerns right now are depth and a big, bellcow running back who could gain some yards, move the chains, burn the clock, control the tempo and keep their defense off the field.
They have good running backs right now--- they just don’t have the physical, bruising type of back like we saw last week at Morton in a guy named Seth Gletz. If Galesburg did, they would be looking at a 3-0 record instead of 0-3.
And as good as he’s been, Streaks quarterback Tristan Legate would be even better. A good running game would lessen the pressure in the pocket on the junior quarterback and open up the passing lanes even further.
It would be the best of both worlds; pressure off the defense, pressure off Legate. But finding that running back or running scheme with the running backs already on the roster is the trick.
The Silver Streaks are close and they have been for the past several years. They compete night in and night out and play against some very good teams. Here’s hoping Coach Derek Blackwell and his staff can finish the puzzle.
In an ironic sort of way, the Derek Blackwell who played for the Streaks would be the perfect answer. He was one of the best backs in that era of Silver Streak football and their best weapon on offense.
Here’s hoping the Streaks get it turned around.
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