CAHOKIA -- One last desperation drive proved to be just enough for the Cahokia Comanches on Friday in a season-opening win over O'Fallon.
Senior quarterback Patrick Ivy fired an 11-yard scoring strike to Jimmie Hunt with 33 seconds remaining as Cahokia rallied for an 8-3 victory.
Frustrated by its own mistakes and a tough Panthers defense for 46 minutes, the Comanches used a 40-yard pass play from Ivy to Donald Collier to key a 70-yard march which ended when Hunt beat two defenders over the middle for the score.
"That's what Jimmie Hunt does. He makes big plays," a relieved Cahokia coach Antwyne Golliday said. "He had his share of drops tonight, more then what he usually makes, but with the game on the line, he made the catch.
"It wasn't pretty and I thought both teams were really sloppy, but we can fix the things we did wrong tonight. I'll tell you that it's a lot easier to fix ugly with a 'W' then it is to fix ugly with a 'L'."
The "W" was the 50th in the Cahokia coaching career of Golliday who is in his seventh year at the helm.
O'Fallon, although struggling on offense with mistakes of its own, didn't give an inch on defense for much of the night.
The Panthers forced two Cahokia fumbles in the first half and held the heralded Cahokia passing attack in check all night.
Ivy completed just 15 of 31 passes for 234 yards.
"We came in with a game plan and I thought we did a good job of executing that game plan. The defense was just outstanding. We held a very good football team scoreless for what? 47 1/2 minutes," Panthers coach Brandon Joggerst said. "The touchdown pass wasn't so much of a breakdown as it was a big time player (Hunt) making a big play.
"You're never happy losing. But the kids played hard the entire night."
O'Fallon used the running of Ben Benton, B.J. Hendrix and Dominic Jones to held them take the lead late in the second quarter.
Moving inside the Comanches' 15-yard line, O'Fallon got a 28-yard field goal from Kurt Rosenbaum as time expired in the first half to take a 3-0 lead.
Building on that momentum in the second half, O'Fallon rushed for 115 yards in the final two quarters. But like Cahokia, the Panthers were hurt by drive-ending mistakes.
"We had a little bit of momentum at half-time and then early in the second half," Joggerst said. "But then we kind of shot ourselves in the foot with mistakes."
Cahokia's winning drive started on the Panthers' 30-yard line with 1:43 left in the game.
Faced with a fourth-and-3 on the 46, Ivy found Collier over the middle. The fleet Comanche senior broke three tackles before being stopped at the O'Fallon 6-yard line.
A penalty pushed Cahokia back to the 11 where Ivy and Hunt connected.
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