FOOTBALL: Four teams advance to quarterfinals

Beginning with Bradley-Bourbonnais’ 42-0 takedown of Class 7A No. 1 seed Whitney Young Friday night, the Daily Journal area’s IHSA Football Playoff teams had quite a collective weekend. The Boilermakers (9-2) overcame a pair of early turnovers, leaning on a stout defense and dominant ground game to advance to their first quarterfinal appearance since 2015, setting up a potential revenge game against Lincoln-Way Central this Friday.

The Knights earned a 28-6 win over the Boilers in Week 5. Saturday, three more teams punched their tickets. Kankakee (10-1), who faced its first deficit since a Week 1 loss at Nazareth, quickly erased an early 7-0 hole and ran away with a 27-7 win against Bloomington to move into this Saturday’s quarterfinal at Richards.



Coal City’s Landin Benson scored five touchdowns for the second time in as many weeks, helping the Coalers turn a 10-7 halftime deficit into a runaway 33-10 win, advancing to this Saturday’s quarterfinal against Dixon in Coal City. Wilmington continued its season of dominance last Saturday, rushing for more than 400 yards once again in a 36-0 win over Eureka. The Wildcats hit the road for the first time this postseason this Saturday, as they’re set to visit Durand-Pecatonica at 1 p.

m. In the Illinois 8-Man Football Association quarterfinals, St. Anne took early leads of 6-0 and 12-6 at No.

1 and undefeated Pawnee, but the Indians rode a seven-touchdown effort from Carson Wort to put an end to the Cardinals’ best season in school history in their second year of I8FA play. For more, see SPORTS, B1..