Football: Rich Central Crashes Bloom Township's Homecoming Party

Breaking It Down: It was a close game between the Rich Central Olympians and the Bloom Township Blazing Trojans heading into halftime, with the score 14-7 in favor of the Olympians. However, in the second half it was all Rich Central as the Olympians scored 27 unanswered points to go up 41-13 halfway through the fourth quarter and coasted to a 41-25 victory on Saturday afternoon.

Olympians' quarterback Devonte Black keyed the offense, as he went for 235 yards on 16-for-28 with two touchdowns and an interception.
For the Blazing Trojans, quarterback LaVante Blackful tried to match Black's effort, but couldn't keep pace. Blackful threw for 191 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Patch’s MVP: Devonte Black, Rich Central. Black hit his first five passes in to open the second half, including a 29-yard touchdown to Brandon Fowler. Black finished the day with two touchdowns through the air and 235 yards on 16-of-28 passing.

Bloom Stat Pack: LaVante Blackful rushed for 122 yards on 24 carries with a touchdown and a fumble. Kiondre Whisentom had an interception for the Blazing Trojans defense. Justin Banks, Randal Wade, Jataryan Desjareau each had a touchdown catch.

Rich Central Stat Pack: Jermaine Hughes had a interception return for a touchdown. James Thigpen rushed for 115 yards, with a touchdown and fumble on 16 carries. Brandon Fowler and Shawn Mitchell Jr. caught touchdown passes.

Quotable I: Devonte Black, quarterback, Rich Central: “We had a lot of man-on-man coverage, one-on-one on the outside, so I figured I'm going to give my receivers the chance to go get the deep ball.”

Quotable II: Tony Palombi, coach, Bloom Township: “We just had some mental breakdowns, some miscues here and there and the kinds let it effect them. They've got to understand that they can't let that effect them, but they bounced back at the end.”

Team Records: Rich Central is now 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the Southland Conference. Bloom drops to 1-3 and 0-1 in the Southland Conference.

What’s Next: Rich Central heads to Rich East at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24. Bloom Township is on the road at Rich South at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 23.

Scores of Interest: Crete-Monee 64, Glenbard South 13; Rich South 28, Kankakee 0. For more scores, check out the IHSA ScoreZone.