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The 1998 Taylorville Football Team coached by Scott Alberssen was the first Tornadoes team to win nine games in a season since 1935.  With 20 letter winners including 18 seniors returning from an 8 -2 season in 1997, the Tornadoes approached the new season with great confidence.

The Tornadoes opened the season on the road against the Charleston Trojans.   The fireworks in the first minute of play gave Taylorville fans a preview of how exciting the new season would be.    After receiving the kickoff, Charleston, on their first play from scrimmage, connected on a 73 yard pass to score their first touchdown with only 12 seconds gone in the game.  But senior Doug Hughes, starting his first varsity game at quarterback, answered seconds later on Taylorville’s first play from scrimmage, hitting Danny Welge for a 67 yard touchdown, tying the score at 7 with only 35 seconds gone in the 1st quarter.  The Tornadoes went on to score 27 first half points and ended up with a 40- 26 win.  Ben Stork was the leading rusher in the game and Matt Blomquist  had 6 receptions for 132 yards.

The following week, the Tornadoes entertained their first Central State 8 foes, in the Lincoln Railers.   As the Breeze Courier reported,  “Taylorville dominated both sides of the ball. The defense, led by Jake Muncy, Ed Krotz, Chad Hornbuckle and Myles Repsher, Taylorville held Lincoln to a total of 153 of offense.  Ben Stork again led the rushing offense with 120 yards and one touchdown.   Hughes rushed for two Touchdowns and threw for two more as the Tornadoes beat the Railers 35 – 7.

A seasoned and undefeated Springfield High School team visited the Tornadoes the next Friday night. Both defenses played inspired football.  Taylorville had two touchdowns on a Blomquist 18 yard fumble  return and  a Ryan Ellis 10 yard run.  Eric Grizzell, subbing for an injured  Chris Miller kicked both PAT’s and an important 28 yard field goal. Late in the fourth quarter Springfield was driving when, with 3 minutes and 44 seconds remaining in the game,  and the game tied at 17, Chuck Dyer recovered a fumble at the Taylorville 20 yard line.  On the first play from scrimmage, Hughes hit Matt Blomquist with a short pass, but Blomquist broke two tackles and scampered down to the Senator 15 yard line for a 65 yard gain.  Ben Stork then carried the ball to the one yard line, where Hughes punched the ball over the goal line for the Touchdown and a Taylorville 24 – 17 win.

A Saturday afternoon game in Jacksonville was the next challenge for the Tornadoes.  

 Jacksonville played inspired football, but the Tornadoes were too much for the Crimson.

Hughes connected on 14 of 21 passes for 253 yards and Blomquist was on the receiving end for 2 touchdowns and 130 yards as Taylorville defeated Jacksonville 34 - 19.

September 26 was homecoming and the Tornadoes invited their CS8 nemesis, Sacred Heart Griffen

To their party.  The defense greeted the Cyclones with seven sacks, Ryan Ellis has 2 and Luke Stalets, Matt DeClerck,  Myles Repsher, Jake Muncy and Jeremy Tucker had one each.  While the defense was Smothering the SHG offense, Matt Blomquist set a Central State 8 record with 249 yard receiving in a single game.  Hughes connect with Blomquist for 3 touchdowns of 80, 38 and 66 yards, then scoring one himself and Ben Stork finished the scoring with an 18 yard run as Taylorville dominated SHG 40- 0.

Both state ranked, both tied for the conference leadership, both undefeated; Taylorville played the Titans of Chatham Glenwood at home the following week.  Before the largest crowd of the season, Taylorville jumped out to a quick lead and with 9:54 left in the 3rd quarter had built a 27 – 7 lead.  But Glenwood made some offensive changes at halftime and began to run the ball between the tackles and scored touchdowns on three consecutive possessions to take the lead 28- 27 with 2:13 remaining in the game.  But Taylorville began a drive and after moving into Glenwood territory the Titans intercepted a Taylorville pass and scored their final touchdown on the next play, gaining a 35 -27 win. They would go on to win the class 4 A state Championship.

Taylorville completed the remainder of the regular season on the road.  The first stop was in Springfield against the Spartans of Southeast High School.  Entering the seventh game of the season, the Tornadoes boasted a defense that had 10 players credited with 20 tackles or more,  Led by Ben Stork with 66 tackles, and closely followed by Luke Stalets with 59, Myles Repsher: 56, Ryan Ellis 51, Jake Muncy:35, Chad Hornbuckle: 29, Justin Murphy: 22, Matt Blomquist: 21, Matt Declerk:  21 and Ray Durbin with 20, the speedy Spartans didn’t stand a chance.  The Taylorville air attack proved too much for the Spartans as Danny Welge had 4 receptions for 85 yards, Chuck Dyer had a 27 yard TD Reception and Bloomquist continued his record setting season with 3 receptions for 2 touchdowns.  He also retuned a punt for a TD as the Tornadoes defeated Southeast 33 -7. Improving their record to 6 – 1.

The final conference game of the season was at Springfield Lanphier against a stubborn Lion team. 

After a scoreless first quarter, Quarterback Doug Hughes found Matt Blomquist for a 6 yard touchdown.  Lanphier answered quickly answered scoring with five minutes remaining in the half.  On their second passion of the second half, Hughes hit Blomquist for a 56 yard touchdown.  A two-  point conversion gave Taylorville a 15 – 7 lead.  But the Lions came back with a 74 yard run setting up a one yard touchdown, but a missed two point conversion attempt. With the score 15 -13, Ben Stork ran the ball in from the five yard line to give the Tornadoes a 22- 13 lead.  Any chance of a Lanphier comeback end as Stork recovered a Lion fumble with two minutes remaining in the game. Hughes was 10 of 22 for 160 yards and two touchdowns, both to Blomquist with Ben Stork scoring one touchdown in a 22-13 win.

Taylorville closed out the regular season with a 33 -12 victory over the Effingham Flaming Hearts.  Entering the game ranked 10th in the state in class 4A, the Tornadoes made quick work of the Hearts with Welge, Ellis and Brandon Rogers, Luke Stalets and Adam Vincent each scoring touchdowns in a 33 -12 victory and completing an 8 and 1 regular season.

Taylorville earned a home field game in their first round of the IHSA State Playoffs and drew the Crete Monee Warriors as their opponent.  Crete Monee entered the game with a 7 -2 record.  Taylorville entered the game averaging 31.6 points per game and were giving up only 15.1.  Both teams scored in the first quarter with the Tornadoes striking first on a 17 yard Hughes to Brandon Rogers pass.  Crete Monee responded quickly with a 12 yard drive ending the first quarter with a 7 -7 tie. The score would remain tied until, with 9 seconds remaining in the half, Hughes found an open Chuck Dyer for a 9 yard touchdown and a 14-7 halftime lead.   Crete Monee scored quickly, opening the third quarter following a Tornado turn over.  Chris Miller put Taylorville back in the lead with a 32 yard field goal.   But the Warriors would not go away, and scored a touchdown near the end of the third quarter to take a 3 point lead 20 -17.  But Taylorville would not be denied, they ended the quarter with a ten play 67 yard drive ending with a touchdown pass to Chad Hornbuckle and taking back the lead 24 -17.  Two fourth quarter touchdowns, one on a 32 yard pass to Danny Welge and the last on a 5 yard run by Ben Stork, sealed the 9th win for the Tornadoes at 37 -20, and the opportunity to advance to the second round of the State Playoffs .

After gaining their first play- off win since defeating Mascoutah in 1977, the Tornadoes had to travel north to Rochelle, to play the Hubs in the second round of the state play-offs.  The Tornadoes got off to an early lead as Chuck Dyer pounced on a fumbled fair catch in the first quarter.  Hughes scored on a one yard plunge after a Stork 20 yard run and a pass to Brandon Rogers.  Rochelle scored on their next two possessions kicked a 37 yard field goal on the last play of the half to take a 10 point lead into the locker room.  Neither team scored in the third period, but the Tornadoes scored early in the fourth quarter to pull within 3 points.   However, a broken play on a 4th and seven punt attempt, allowed the Hubs to maintain possession and score on a 21 yard run to extend their lead to ten points.  A Taylorville fumble with five minutes remaining gave the ball back to Rochelle who quickly sealed the outcome scoring the final touchdown with  1:48 to play, thus ending the Tornadoes remarkable season with a 9 -2 record.

Following such an unprecedented season, the Tornadoes place seven players on the Central State Eight All- Conference first Team.  Those members were Doug Hughes who set school records for  single season passing attempts (234), completions (141),  completion percentage (60.3%), yards (2377) and passes for touchdowns (22); Matt Blomquist set school records for receptions in a season (70), receiving yards in a season (1401) and receiving TD’s in a season (13) as well as career records of 115 receptions for 2243 yards and 24 touchdowns;  Ben stork rushed for 650 yards and seven touchdowns and led the team in tackles with 158;  Ryan Ellis had 96 tackles and a team leading 8 sacks; Jake Muncy had 69 tackles and six sacks; Luke Stalets had 102 tackles and three sacks; and Lee Mateer, was the team’s top offensive lineman.

Named as Spceial Mention members were Matt DeCLerck, Ray Durbin, Chad Hornbuckle, Myles Repsher, Adam Vincent, Danny Welge and Kurt Zeitler.    Bryan Skinner, Tommy Campbell, Ray Durbin and Dustin Damery were all- academic selections.

Doug Hughes was also named to the IFCA All State Football Team and Matt Blomquist was named to the Chicago Tribune second team and the one of the top 100 players in Illinois by Champaign News Gazette.

Jake Muncy received the “Don Anderson Lineman Award and Ryan Ellis and Luke Stalets shared the Jim Lovin “Desire Award.”  Chad Hornbuckle received the team’s “Most Improved” award.

Captains selected for this record setting and Hall of Fame team were Ryan Ellis, Jake Muncy, Ben Stork and Luke Stalets.