Forreston falls short in Class 1A Playoffs

By Chris Johnson

Reporter

FORRESTON – A home game proved to not be advantageous for the Forreston Cardinals on Saturday, Nov. 7, as they fell to the number one team in the upper bracket of the Class 1A Football Playoffs, Toulon-Stark County, 42-16.

The loss closes the book on 2015 for Forreston with an 8-3 record. The stat sheet will show that even though the season came to a close, it was another successful one, which ended with a run through the opening round in the State Tournament.

With the inability to consistently move the ball against Stark County, Forreston discovered early that the day would not go their way, even with a packed house cheering the Cardinals on.

The 26-point loss was the second worst of the season for Forreston. On Sept. 11, they fell to the Dakota Indians 34-0.

Against NUIC-Northwest regular season champ Lena-Winslow, Forreston lost by 20 points, on Oct. 9.

The Cardinals closed the 2015 regular season winning five of their final six games, with only the loss to Lena, blemishing their closing-stretch run.

For the winner from last Saturday’s game, now there is a chance to wipe out the NUIC’s best and last-standing team this weekend.

Stark County moves on to face the Polo Marcos, who shut out Warren/Our Lady of the Sacred Heart on Saturday, 40-0, to advance to the quarterfinal.

In 2015, Forreston claimed big wins including victories over Galena in week two, 32-29, West Carroll 28-22 on Sept. 25 and Dakota, in the opening round of the Class 1A Tournament on Oct. 30, 8-0.

For Head Coach Denny Diduch and the Forreston Cardinals, it now will be a short time off before the winter sports season moves in, as the basketball season looms, less than two weeks away.

The NUIC’s chance to keep the streak alive and carry home the “best-in-class” hardware rests with a team Forreston knows well, a team they co-op with on occasion, Polo.

If the Marcos advance, the next step is the State semi-final, one short trip away from the State Finals on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Thanksgiving week.