BELLEVILLE — The Belleville West Maroons went to a ground-and-pound offense on a wet night.

Antoine Davis and Sherand Boyd each rushed for two touchdowns as the Maroons beat the Alton Redbirds 26-7 Friday in a Southwestern Conference game.

The Maroons slogged their way to 302 rushing yards in the game.

"It was just sloppy out there,'' West coach Cameron Pettus said. "They did what they needed to do. I'm very proud of their effort. I know all of the coaches are proud of their effort tonight.''

Davis had 22 carries for 155 carries yards and Brian Hill had 22 carries for 109 yards.

"He stepped up,'' Pettus said of Davis, a sophomore. "We talked all week about how I was looking for him to have a big game this week, and he sure did.

"That's the kind of guy that we saw when he was a freshman. He has a lot of potential, and he needs to keep working, but he did a great job tonight.''

Davis credited his offensive line for the big night.

"I had to step up, but I owe that to my O-line,'' Davis said.

Davis also said he had to adjust his running style because of the slippery footing.

"I had to play smart,'' Davis said. "I had to take littler steps. I couldn't be as fast as I wanted to, but I had to do the job.''

The Maroons attempted only five passes in the game.

"Sherand tried a couple of times, but it just wasn't working,'' Pettus said.

The Maroons improved to 5-2 overall, 3-2 in the SWC. The Redbirds dropped to 1-6 overall, 1-4 in the SWC.

The Maroons have won the last six meetings against the Redbirds.

The game started an hour and 19 minutes late because of a lightning delay.

The wait didn't bother the Maroons as they took only 30 seconds and just three plays to march down the field for a touchdown.

Davis ran 29 yards on the first play, Hill ran for 13 yards on the second play and David ran 19 yards for a touchdown on the third play.

The Redbirds failed to execute on a fake punt after their first drive stalled, but the Maroons handed the ball back to them on a fumbled pitch that was recovered by Alton's Tyler McLemore.

The Redbirds couldn't capitalize on the turnover as they had a 23-yard field-goal attempt blocked.

The Maroons went up 13-0 on a 6-yard run around the left side by Davis with 1:52 left in the first quarter.

A high snap on a punt led to the Redbirds getting the ball at the West 21.

Four plays later, Alton quarterback Aaron Womack threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to McLemore to cut West's lead to 13-7.

Boyd ran 17 yards, hurdling the final Alton defender for a touchdown with 7:01 left in the second quarter. A two-point conversion run by Boyd was unsuccessful.

The Maroons went up 26-7 on a 7-yard touchdown run by Boyd with 3:02 left in the first half.

Running back Javon McBride entered the game and sparked the Redbirds with seven carries for 34 yards on the opening drive of the second half.

However, McBride was tackled for a 5-yard loss on fourth down at the West 6 to end the drive.

Womack completed 7 of 27 passes for 49 yards.

Contact reporter Steve Korte at skorte@bnd.com or 239-2522.