Senior running back Trysten Sewell rushed for 127 yards and two touchdowns, leading Mattoon to a 20-17 win over Charleston in the 2024 Coles County Clash Friday night at O’Brien Field.
The game, which was played in front of 6,915 in attendance, was sloppy in the first half, with both teams combining for six turnovers. Charleston (3-3, 0-3) fumbled three times including once on Mattoon’s (2-4, 2-1) goal line. Mattoon also fumbled in the red zone on its second drive of the game.
“[We] shot ourselves in the foot,” Charleston head coach Brian Halsey said. “We can’t turn the ball over like four or five times like we did. Stupid penalties. We beat ourselves.”
The Trojans struggled to run the ball for most of the game apart from an 85-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Treylin Couch in the first quarter, only gaining 62 yards on the ground outside of that run.
“Our run defense has been pretty stout all season,” Mattoon head coach Jarad Kimbro said. “So, we know that’s our strength. We just continue to play to our strength and do what we could.”
When Charleston got the ball back at the start of the fourth quarter, the Trojans executed an eight play, 69-yard touchdown drive to cut it to a three-point game. With just under eight minutes to go, senior quarterback Luke Bonnstetter rolled out to his right and threw across his body to sophomore wide receiver Braxton Hanner, who was wide open in the endzone from 12 yards out.
Mattoon would get the ball back and use a combination of Sewell and senior running back Cale Kimbro to move the ball down the field and drain valuable seconds off the clock. The Greenwave were picking up an average of three to four yards per carry on the drive, until it was derailed by a fumble on a miscommunication in the backfield, forcing junior quarterback Shayden Neff to fall on the ball which resulted in a loss of 11 yards.
Charleston got the ball back with 2:25 to go at its own 44-yard line. After a five-yard completion to Hanner, Bonnstetter’s next two passes were incomplete. On fourth down and five, senior wide receiver Chase Clough ran a comeback route and had to go to the ground to catch the ball, but he was one yard short of the first down marker when he caught it, and the Trojans turned the ball over on downs.
Charleston took advantage of a Mattoon holding penalty and its last time out to force the Greenwave to punt one more time. But with the Trojans trying to block the punt, senior Marcellx Boling collided with the punter and was flagged for roughing the kicker, giving Mattoon an automatic first down to ice the game.
The Greenwave for a second straight week have won and stayed alive for the postseason. With Mattoon sitting at four losses, another one this season would eliminate them from the playoffs.
“Having two wins is huge,” Kimbro said. “[Charleston is] talented and physical, so we had our hands very very full.”
Bonnstetter finished 17-for-25 passing for 140 yards. He threw one touchdown and one interception.
Charleston will need to win two of it’s last three games to have a chance at qualifying for the playoffs, with it’s next two games at Trojan Hill against Mt. Zion and Taylorville.
Kickoff against Mt. Zion is at 7 p.m.
(Statistics courtesy of Victory 103.9)
Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at ghnewman@eiu.edu.
