ORION, Ill. - If Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield would have been at the Stark County-Orion game Saturday, they might have enjoyed themselves. For 48 minutes, the Rebels and Chargers exchanged blows, each looking for the knockout punch that would advance them to the second round of the Illinois Class 2A football playoffs.

In the end, it was a body blow, a 30-yard field goal by Orion senior James Matson that won the bout as the Chargers advanced with a 24-21 victory.

Both teams came in as heavyweight contenders. Stark County was the runner-up in Class 1A last year and sported a 7-2 record this year. Orion is the No. 5 seed this year and now sits at 9-1.

"That's a tremendous football team," Orion coach Chip Filler said. "It was too bad either of us had to go home, because they could do some damage, I think."

Momentum swung to the Chargers' side late in the second quarter as Orion used a 12-play, 95-yard drive that culminated in Matson finding Tyler DeDecker in the end zone to grab a 14-7 lead. Orion never would trail after that.

Filler praised Stark County quarterback Tanner Ewing, calling him "the best quarterback we saw all year." Ewing finished with 20 rushes for 158 yards and two touchdowns and 8-of-20 for 87 yards passing and a touchdown through the air. Ewing caught a 30-yard touchdown pass.

But in the end, it was the Chargers that finished strong.

The game entered the fourth quarter tied at 21-21.

Orion used a 12-play, 61-yard drive completed by Matson's field goal to pull ahead.

The Chargers defense held on the next possession, and then DeDecker downed Kennan Hutchison's punt at the 1-yard line to pin Stark County. The Rebels' final drive stalled at the 33.

"That was huge," DeDecker said of his play on special teams. "With the clock winding down, we needed them to drive the length of the field."

Windy conditions were a factor, and Orion scored the only touchdown into the wind in the third quarter on a Brad Walker screen pass from Matson following a Ewing fumble deep in his own end.

The punting game suffered the most from the wind, but Matson seemed to have no problem in the passing game going 12-for-21 for 122 yards and two touchdowns. The wind was at Matson's back for his field goal, his first attempt of the year.

"We've kicked plenty of extra points all year," Matson said. "It's kind of like a field goal, just this was farther back."