Senior quarterback Jackson Alcorn wasn’t about to let Burlington Central come up short again.
After guiding the Rockets to a win shy of the playoffs in each of his first two varsity seasons, Alcorn came back even more determined to reach that goal in his final year of high school football.
And playoffs it is.
“We didn’t want it to happen again,” Alcorn said, nodding. “We sat down before the season and said, ‘We are going to make this happen. We’re speaking it into existence right now.’
“It feels great to get to the point where we have our sixth win and clinched it. It feels great.”
Indeed, Alcorn calmly led host Burlington Central to a 31-6 Fox Valley Conference victory Friday night over rival Hampshire as the Rockets clinched their first playoff berth since 2014.
A week after his record-setting performance against Prairie Ridge, Alcorn completed 15 of 22 passes for 137 yards to lead Burlington Central (6-2, 6-2), including a 24-yard touchdown pass to Chase Powrozek. Alcorn also ran for 45 yards on three carries and didn’t turn the ball over. Zane Pollack ran for 99 yards. Henry Deering, LJ Kerr and Zach Samaan each added TD runs.
Senior quarterback Ryan Prowicz paced the Whip-Purs (1-7, 1-7) by passing for 91 yards. Cole Klawikowski chipped in with 51 yards, including a 9-yard TD run.
Alcorn guided Burlington Central to a TD on its first drive and the Rockets were in command from there. That’s no surprise to coach Brian Iossi.
“That kid is like a son to me,” Iossi said. “I haven’t had a relationship with a player like him. To be able to trust a player like we trust him to go out there and execute is great. A lot of kids may say they can do it, but he goes out there and does it. He’s been a good player for three years.
“I think you’re seeing him get to what we always knew he was. His potential is through the roof.”
Alcorn lit up the record book last week with 469 yards passing and seven total TDs to stun Prairie Ridge. This week, he was more than content to efficiently lead his team to the victory.
“I don’t put any pressure on myself to have a great big game like I did last week,” Alcorn said. “I always want a team win. We ran the ball really well. The O-line did a tremendous job.
“When I had to throw the ball, I threw the ball. We just kept moving the ball down the field, putting good drives together.”
Kerr, a senior wide receiver, also got into the rushing attack and scoring on 6-yard end-around.
“Last week we passed the ball every down,” Kerr said. “It was nice to have our running backs pounding the rock. It feels great.”
Kerr was one of the sophomores who were called up to varsity three seasons ago along with Alcorn, so the win was extra sweet for him as well.
“We used the past two years — 4-5 stunk,” Kerr said. “We were very emotional about it, and we used it as motivation to power us and stayed motivated and stayed focused and got to where we wanted to be.
“But we’re not satisfied.”
The Rockets finish the regular season next Friday at Huntley. With a playoff berth already secured, Alcorn wants to put the exclamation point on the regular season and set the tempo.
“We love being the underdogs, I’ll just say it,” Alcorn said. “We love the hating, being one of the smallest schools in the conference.
“It pushes us even more to want to get to that seventh win and make a statement in the playoffs.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
