Rich East beats Metamora, 28-15

Updated: October 29, 2011 7:59PM

METAMORA — Rich East coach Barry Reade didn’t have to be told about Metamora’s football tradition. He’d faced the Redbirds while at Geneseo and LaSalle-Peru.

Those memories have never faded, so he walked his 35-man Rockets squad past the big sign touting the Redbirds’ three state championships after having told them this: “The first two runner-up signs up there, I was in Geneseo (at Darnall) and we beat them.”

That served as inspiration. The sixth-seeded Rockets scored a 28-15 Class 5A victory over the third-seeded Redbirds before about 1,500 fans, all but about 100 rooting for Metamora at Malone Field.

Rich East (7-3) hosts Washington (8-2), like Metamora (7-3) a Mid-Illini Conference team, at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Five Metamora turnovers greatly aided Rich East, with the biggest quarterback Ross Hoover’s fumble on first-and-goal at the Rockets 2. Jamaal Greenwood grabbed the ball, preserving a 22-15 lead.

Rich East’s Shamond Kemp grabbed a loose ball on Metamora’s next drive, and the Rockets put together their fourth long drive, a 55-yard march capped by Rondell Willingham’s 5-yard plunge, his second touchdown.

Willingham (12 carries, 90 yards) also was a defensive stud, picking off a Hoover pass aimed for Ben Friday to start the drive that led to Willingham’s first touchdown, a 35-yard run.

“Every time Friday was in, I keyed on him,” Willingham said. “We worked on it all week. And I love my offensive line.”

Richard White added 106 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.

Metamora outgained Rich East 346-238, with Dekota Doerr (98 yards, touchdown), Charlie Nowotnik (95 yards) and Hoover (88 yards, touchdown) accounting for 281 of them.

“We bent but didn’t break,” Reade said. “And we had a couple of offensive formations they didn’t have an answer for. Versus a Pat Ryan team, you don’t do that very often.”

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