By Ronen O'Shay

FLANAGAN - Colin Honan’s pass interception in the end zone with 50 seconds to play secured Tremont’s 24-22 Heart of Illinois Conference victory over Flanagan-Cornell Woodland on Friday night.

Second half pass interceptions by Jake Lang, Laurence Simms and Honan allowed Tremont to hold off Flanagan’s rally in the quarter. Both teams have 6-1 overall and 5-1 conference records.

Junior running back Caleb Shutt paced Tremont's offense with a game-high 147 yards on 30 carries, including two touchdowns. Junior Isiah Thompson added one rushing touchdown and one receiving touchdown in the win.

Flanagan-Cornell Woodland committed five turnovers in the loss, fumbling twice in the opening half. Running backs Austin Mehalic and Kody Appel split the rushing duties, accumulating more than 120-combined yards with two scores. Quarterback Alec Dutco finished 11-for-18 for 203 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.

Tremont jumped on the board first on Shutt’s 15-yard touchdown run to open the second quarter. Minutes later, Thomas scampered 9 yards for a touchdown, giving the Turks an early 12-0 lead.

Flanagan freshman Austin Dutko’s 70-yard kickoff return gave the Falcons field possession inside the red zone with under one minute to play in the opening half. Two plays later, Appel carried the ball 3 yards for a touchdown, making it 12-6 at the break. Appel finished with seven carries for 66 yards and one touchdown.   

Tremont scored on a 13-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a 13-yard touchdown run by Shutt.

Flanagan-Cornell Woodland added a 42-yard run from Mehalic and a 38-yard touchdown pass from Dutko in the fourth quarter.

Konnor O’Keefe’s 51-yard fourth quarter touchdown pass to Thompson capped the scoring for the Falcons. O’Keefe finished 5-for-14 for 123 yards and one touchdown.