Sterling knocks off Burlington Central

Having possession of the lead or the football did not necessarily equate to having control of a Class 5A first-round playoff game where Burlington Central and visiting Sterling combined for 7 turnovers and four lead changes Saturday afternoon at Rocket Hill.

When Trevor Davison wove 11 yards, dived and broke the plane of the goal line with 6:38 to play he put the seventh-seeded Rockets into a 3-point lead and in position for their first postseason victory in eight years.

But the 10th-seeded Golden Warriors responded with touchdowns on their final two possessions and advanced with a 31-20 victory.

"I felt like we had it," said Davison, a senior who also had a touchdown run to give the Rockets their first lead, caught 7 passes for 100 yards and was part of a defense that allowed only 235 total yards. "We just let ourselves down and let the momentum get into their favor. From then on it was all downhill."

Workhorse junior quarterback Sterling Thornton had 38 carries for 160 yards and his third short touchdown run sent Sterling (7-3) into next Saturday's second-round matchup with 15th-seed Marian Central Catholic (6-4), which routed Chicago's Solorio Academy 42-0 on Friday night. An 11-yard touchdown run by Brandon Dennis capped a 58-yard drive that changed the lead for the final time at 24-20 with 4:19 left.

"We've been a second-half team and our kids knew what they had to do out of the gate in the second half," said Sterling coach Jonathan Schlemmer, whose team's losses included downstate powers Metamora and Geneseo. "We have a lot of confidence in these seniors. It came down to our kids battling and converting big first downs when we needed them."

Two of 4 lost fumbles by Burlington (6-4) helped Sterling take a 10-0 lead 1:20 before halftime. Thornton just got into the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 1 to cap an 18-play, 56-yard drive that lasted 7:51.

Also looming was Sterling receiving the second-half kickoff when Burlington took over at its 37 with no timeouts and 1:15 on the clock. But senior quarterback Adam Skirmont (16-for-34, 259 yards), fighting through a left ankle injury suffered in a Week 8 loss to Johnsburg, hit Davison for a leaping fourth-down grab for 26 yards at the Sterling 15 with four seconds left.

The Rockets' offense quickly raced downfield with the clock stopped to set the chains. Skirmont spiked the ball with three seconds left and then 6-foot-4 senior Brenden Bushy (5 catches, 88 yards) faked a post pattern, cut toward the left corner of the end zone and got inside position on his defender for a leaping touchdown grab.

And the Rockets got a big boost to start the second half. Branden Sorensen recovered a fumble on his own bouncing kickoff at the Sterling 30 to set up Davison's 1-yard touchdown run for a 14-10 lead.

"That was the biggest boost we needed, to go in the last few seconds and then go in on the kickoff," Davison said. "I felt like from then on we had our game. It was ours to lose."

The defense led by middle linebackers Anton Christensen and Craig Kein and end Charles Sanders got the ball back for the offense. But a fumbled snap put Sterling just 25 yards from the end zone and Thornton scored from 2 yards for a 17-14 lead.

"We didn't turn around and make stops when we needed to make stops," said Burlington coach Rich Crabel after Thornton set up his score by getting the 3 yards he needed on fourth down.

Burlington had an opportunity to change the lead one last time but on fourth-and-5 from its 27, Davison was stopped a yard short on a pass reception by Joe Brouilette and Dennis with 3:12 to play.

Brouilette (4 sacks) and Brett Gould (2 sacks) routinely came off the edge to harass Skirmont. Burlington had 12 plays go for negative yardage and finished with minus-10 rushing yards.

"They're two special players," Schlemmer said. "(Nos.) 30 and 40 were really, really good for us today getting at the quarterback."

But Skirmont kept battling until he reinjured his ankle and had to be helped off the field with a minute left.

"I'm incredibly proud of Adam ... he was going to do anything he could to play and that's what he did," Davison said.

"I thought he just flat-out played like a warrior today," Crabel said. "He couldn't run last week and he really couldn't run today. We just weren't going to be able to keep him off the field until we had to bring him off at the end."