PLEASANT PLAINS — Xander Smith had one thing on his mind following Pleasant Plains’ 26-20 Sangamo Conference win over New Berlin on Friday: General Grant’s Saber.
The Cardinals’ senior quarterback noticed both teams heading to their respective sides of the field for a postgame huddle while both first-year head coaches Logan Larson and New Berlin’s Trent Quarton were exchanging pleasantries at midfield.
The traveling trophy was being ignored, left unattended on the New Berlin sideline. The Pretzels were hoping to retain the trophy exchanged amongst rivals for a third year in a row. Smith, exhausted but euphoric over the win, raced over to the New Berlin bench, retrieved the trophy and joyfully took it over to celebrate with it and his teammates.
The Cardinals (1-0) outscored New Berlin 12-0 in the second half to pull out a win in the first game back at his alma mater for Larson, a 2013 PPHS graduate.
“At halftime, coach gave us a stern talking-to: ‘The only people that can beat us right now are the blue team (the Cardinals wore blue),” Smith said.
Larson, who was 2-7 last season at Spring Valley Hall, soaked in the fun.
“It’s always great when you start the year off with a win, a rivalry game,” Larson said. “To see our guys, the way we won, being down at halftime, we knew if we didn’t beat ourselves — too many penalties, fumbles, operational stuff, bad snaps — good football teams don’t do that. In the second half, we played a clean game.”
Though New Berlin had just a 20-14 halftime lead, it was the Cardinals who seemed to make the majority of the costly errors in the first half. Over the first 24 minutes, Plains was whistled six times for 55 penalty yards, had a possible touchdown erased with a fumble at the 2-yard line, allowed a 79-yard kickoff return by New Berlin quarterback Brady Crews and lost another fumble at midfield one play after Grady Grisham came up with an interception.
In the first half, it was New Berlin which looked like the playoff team it was last season, a 7-3 finish and a Class 3A postseason appearance. Plains looked more like its 2-7 2024 squad.
All that changed in the second half. On the Cardinals’ first drive in the third quarter, Smith and Company put together an 11-play, 52-yard drive that ended with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Nolan Scott to pull Plains into a 20-20 tie.
“I’ll give coach Larson credit: they were making adjustments, they were bumping their D-line, and they were doing the things you’re supposed to do, man,” Quarton said. “They made it a little harder on us, blocking-wise. We missed some things and (due to cramping and injuries), you end up with freshmen in there you didn’t expect would have to play.”
Though the Pretzels’ defense held Plains scoreless on the Cardinals’ next possession, Smith recovered a Crews’ fumble in the final minute of the third.
When the fourth quarter began, Plains faced a fourth-and-two from the Pretzels’ 24, but Smith successfully got a Pretzels’ defender to bite on a fake snap. With a fresh set of downs, Smith handed the ball to Carson Niemerg three times, Grisham had one carry and Smith scampered into the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown.
If his team can make such a leap from one half to another, Larson is optimistic that the Cardinals can make a massive jump from Week 1 to Week 2, a road game on Friday at Maroa-Forsyth.
Quarton is also hopeful that the Pretzels see much improvement before next week’s home opener against Auburn (0-1).
“There are a lot of things to work on,” Quarton said. “We’ll go back, we’ll look at the film, where can we improve, where can I improve? We’ve got to come back stronger next week.”
Smith completed 14 of 20 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns — one to Grisham and another to Scott. Smith also ran 15 times for 49 yards and two more TDs. Scott caught four passes for 109 yards while Grisham hauled in 10 passes for 86. Niemerg finished with 59 yards on 21 carries.
“Once we started talking about the keys (to the game) that we have to stick to, it started working out and we kept doing that throughout the whole second half,” Grisham said. “Second half, we didn’t give up any points … and it led to good offense.”
The Cardinals’ defense just needed one more stop, which they got with another fumble recovery, then ran out the final 4 minutes, 58 seconds for the win.
While the temperature was mild for Week 1 in Illinois, New Berlin players were cramping up often, especially in the second half. There were several plays with numerous Pretzels on the turf field, creating multiple delays and depleting the Pretzels’ ranks.
“None of our guys really cramped up over here, but they were dropping like flies over there and I feel like that was the difference in the game,” Smith said.
Crews led the way for New Berlin (0-1) with 83 yards and one TD — not including his kick return — on 19 carries. He also finished 10-for-18 with one interception.
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Smith, Pleasant Plains saber-rattle New Berlin in Week 1 victory
Reporting by Ryan Mahan, Springfield State Journal- Register / State Journal-Register
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