Guilford’s courageous comeback falls short, while Belvidere North soars

Guilford’s hard-fought comeback fell a little short in its 30-20 IHSA Class 7A first-round playoff defeat at the hands of Chicago St. Rita, but one of the NIC-10’s other elite teams this season, Belvidere North, continued to fly high on Saturday.

Guilford senior Messiah Tilson, the speedy wide receiver and defensive back who will head to the University of Kentucky next year, caught three passes for 133 yards, including an 81-yard TD pass that cut the St. Rita lead to 11 early in the second half. He had another 43-yard completion down to the 3-yard line early in the fourth that led to the TD that made the score 30-20.

And despite the fact that the Vikings continued to battle back, and battle back, and battle back, and that the star safety also added 17 tackles, that was still as close as Guilford could get in the second half. St. Rita did just enough, converting on a fourth down and three times on third down in a game-clinching drive late in the game.

“The loss hurts, but we all know we did everything we could; we just battled,” Guilford’s 6-foot-7, 357-pound lineman Malachi Richardson said. “It’s a tough one, but we stick together around here.”

Guilford QB Greyson Weber completed 10 of his 20 passes for 203 yards with two touchdowns, but he was picked off three times. Two of those picks went off Weber’s receiver’s hands, however, including a game-opening pick-6 and another interception that hindered the comeback down the stretch.

On Friday night, Harlem won easily, pounding out a 62-0 win over Chicago Mather in a 6A opener. But Jefferson became the first NIC-10 football team to bow out, losing 57-0 to Chicago Brother Rice in its 7A playoff opener. That was the first time the J-Hawks made the postseason since 1993.

Belvidere North 49, Chicago Noble 20

The Blue Thunder stayed undefeated with a solid 5A first-round win on Nov. 1, led by a whole slew of explosive plays by explosive players. Halfback Ben Bucher was just one of them, but he averaged 28.7 yards per touch while rushing for 86 yards on three carries. He scored on his first touch, a 54-yard TD burst a little over four minutes into it.

Five different Belvidere North (10-0) players scored, including one on a 95-yard kickoff return for a TD. Fullback Zavian McElroy had 51 yards and two TDs on 10 carries. Noble threw for 150 yards, but North picked off three passes to minimize the damage.

Now the Blue Thunder will take on Kaneland next week in Round 2. Kaneland beat Lake Villa Lakes 28-7 on Saturday.

Nazareth Academy 42, Hononegah 13

Hononegah fell behind 42-0 by halftime of its 6A playoff opener, and although it outscored Nazareth Academy by two touchdowns in the second half, it didn’t much matter. Hononegah (5-5) got 58 yards rushing and a touchdown from Tyler Banker, but the team netted only 11 more rushing yards in the game. Hononegah QB Drew Shockley was 2-for-15 passing for 48 yards with three interceptions.

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.