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In this one, it's all Antioch

The Antioch football team used a methodical running attack to get the job done Friday night at Round Lake.

The Sequoits (6-0, 4-0) built a quick 22-0 lead after one quarter before taking a 29-0 lead over the Panthers in this Northern Lake County Conference game.

From there, Antioch cruised to a 36-0 victory over Round Lake (0-6, 0-4) on its homecoming game as the Sequoits became playoff-eligible with their sixth win of the season.

After the Panthers tried an onside kick to open the game, Antioch took over with great field position at its own 45-yard-line.

A 15-yard pitch play to Michael Kawell took the ball down to the Round Lake 3 before Hunter Price capped the nine-play drive with a 3-yard TD run. After a Panthers penalty, Antioch chose to go for the 2-point conversion, and Brandon Lind ran it in for an 8-0 lead.

Round Lake's first drive wound up in a four-and-out, but the punt was partially blocked and Antioch's John Howe alertly caught the ball and went 29 yards down to the 1.

Lind ran it in for the touchdown on the next play before Ben Gutke's extra point made the score 15-0.

Then, after another four-and-out by the Panthers, the Sequoits took over with even better field position at the Round Lake 32.

A 23-yard keeper by junior quarterback Branden Gallimore was a key play of the three-play drive before teammate Michael Kawell scored on a 3-yard TD run for a commanding 22-0 lead with exactly three minutes left in the first quarter.

"Just to get a victory was nice, we got a shutout and qualified for the playoffs so that's a great feeling," said Antioch coach Brian Glashagel, whose team faces rival squad Lakes next week. "We've got to run the football and we've got to stop the run."

Late in the second quarter Antioch put together another scoring drive as a 27-yard keeper by Gallimore got the ball rolling in the right direction.

Junior running back Robert Porter capped the seven-play drive with a 4-yard touchdown run with 1:24 remaining in the second quarter to make the score 29-0.

The Sequoits got the ball back one more time before halftime, but they were unable to strike paydirt with a couple of long pass attempts by Gallimore missing their mark.

A big kickoff return by Round Lake's Angelo White gave the Panthers a good start to the second half. But once again the Panthers could not sustain their drive against the stubborn Antioch defense under very damp filed conditions played in a consistent light rain.

The Sequoits really showed their ground attack at their best as they marched 63 yards on 10 plays to boost their lead to 36-0 on a 10-yard pitch to Lind with 3:30 left in the third quarter.

Antioch wound up compiling 20 first downs in the contest while its defense pretty much shut down Round Lake throughout the contest.

Round Lake senior running back Alan Espinosa had very little running room with 40 yards on 15 carries to lead the Panthers rushing attack.

Gallimore, Lind, Porter, Price, and Kawell carried most of the workload for the Sequoits' diverse ground game as Antioch only threw a limited number of passes in the contest.

Round Lake quarterbacks Tabieas Young, and Alex Larson were also held in check for the most part as the Sequoits' pass rush and defensive backs were very effective overall.

"In all phases of the game we made some really nice plays and our depth is pretty good," said Glashagel, whose team went 5-4 and just missed the playoffs last year. "Branden Gallimore is a really good athlete, he puts us in the right position to make plays, and he makes plays."

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