Karter Livengood’s 2 TDs, Milledgeville defense key quarterfinal win

CAMBRIDGE — For the past three seasons, the quarterfinal round of the Illinois 8-Man Football Association playoffs has been the final roadblock for Milledgeville.

That changed on an overcast Saturday afternoon at Cambridge High School.

Led by a yeoman performance from junior Karter Livengood at quarterback, the Missiles converted two first-half Ridgewood turnovers into touchdowns and had a 16-point lead hold up as they held on to top the Spartans 16-12 at Goff-Stahl Field.

“This feeling amazing,” said Livengood. “There’s definitely been a stigma around it (three consecutive I8FA quarterfinal defeats). But we came here hungry and ready to play.”

Awaiting the Missiles (10-1) in next weekend’s Final Four will be a familiar rival in Polo. The unbeaten Marcos punched their semifinal ticket in a big way Saturday, rolling past West Carroll 66-0.

“You can’t beat that,” Livengood said. “Everyone’s going to be there. It’s going to be a good game.”

Doing his part to get Milledgeville to next weekend, Livengood shook off the aftereffects of a stomach virus to record a game-high 107 rushing yards on 31 carries while scoring both of his team’s touchdowns. He also completed all four of his pass attempts for 60 yards.

“We’ve had a stomach bug going through all week, and Karter spent five hours in the E.R. this past Wednesday; he needed to get some fluids into him,” said Milledgeville coach Jason Wroble. “He put in an amazing effort today.”

Going up against last year’s I8FA state runners-up, the Missiles got an early break when after receiving the opening kickoff, Ridgewood coughed up the ball on its first play and junior Konner Johnson snared the loose pigskin.

On the ensuing possession, a 10-yard pass from Livengood to Spencer Nye on a fourth-and-6 play kept Milledgeville’s drive alive as they cashed in on the first Spartan turnover, with Livengood scoring on a five-yard run and Nye running in the two-point conversion for a quick 8-0 lead.

“We were thinking, `Why did they want the ball first?’ But we like our defense even better than our offense, and we were able to set the tone,” Johnson said of his fumble recovery. “It was awesome, even though I messed up my arm a bit, tweaked my elbow. I’ll be good for next week.”

“That was a momentum changer for sure,” Livengood added. “We knew we’d be getting the ball to begin the second half, but we ended up getting it at the beginning of the first half and we capitalized.”

A second lost fumble late in the first quarter set the table for the Missiles’ second touchdown and a 16-0 lead.

After Dalton Adamec’s recovery stopped a prospective Ridgewood drive at the Milledgeville 44-yard line, Livengood scored on a 10-yard run and Micah Toms-Smith added the two-point conversion.

As it turned out, that would end the Missiles’ scoring for the day as the Spartan defense buckled down the rest of the way and gave Ridgewood (9-2) a chance to pull out a victory.

However, those early turnovers — coupled with losing the ball on downs at the Milledgeville 30-yard line midway through the third quarter — proved costly for the hosts.

“We made too many mistakes and we weren’t able to dig ourselves out of that hole,” said Ridgewood coach Pat Elder. “I thought our defense played well all day, even on the drives where we gave up touchdowns, but in the postseason, the team that makes the least mistakes is going to win.

“We weren’t that team today.”

Before the first half was over, the Spartans would get on the scoreboard as a Roy Sandberg four-yard TD run with 19.6 seconds left in the second period closed the gap to 16-6.

Earlier in that drive, Sandberg (88 yards on 18 carries, 113 total yards) was on the receiving end of a 25-yard pass from Owen Anderson (3-of-3 passing, 71 yards) to keep the ball in Ridgewood’s hands.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Spartans made it a four-point game when Anderson sneaked across from a yard out with 6:30 left to play.

Ridgewood had a chance to get the ball back one more time, forcing Milledgeville into a 4th and 3 situation just past midfield. But Livengood hit Evan Schenck with a 29-yard pass, and the Missiles got one more first down after Ridgewood burned all its timeouts to run out the clock.

“It’s been three years prior to this that we didn’t show up in the quarterfinal round,” said Wroble. “It’s not like they were bad losses, but we just didn’t play our best. That left a sour taste.”

While the Missiles now get to savor the taste of a Final Four run, the Spartans will turn the page as they lose 15 seniors from a program that has enjoyed great success at the 8-man level.

“It’s been a good group,” Elder said. “These seniors have a lot of miles on them. They all did a great job and have been great for Spartan football.”