O’Fallon rolls to victory against Belleville West for 6th victory of season

O’Fallon rolled to a big early lead and coasted to a 49-8 Southwestern Conference win Friday night at Belleville West.

The Panthers improved to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in league play and their performance pleased coach Byron Gettis.

“I think the guys had a really good mindset for the game,” he said. “We wanted to go out and execute and I thought we executed at a high level. We set goals for our team and going up against Belleville West ... we just wanted to come out and set the tone on all levels. And I think our guys did a good job of that. We played with a lot of energy and a lot of grit.”

The Maroons, meanwhile, dropped to 0-7 overall, 0-4 in conference action. Despite the outcome, coach Jason Wells noted some bright spots, including an interception from Demarion Fountain, playing his first game this season after breaking his collarbone over the summer.

Wells also praised the Panthers.

“O’Fallon is a really good team. I expect them to make it at least to the quarterfinals of the playoffs,” Wells said. “We’re still dealing with a lot of injuries, but we were still able to see some good things. At the end of the day, O’Fallon is just better. They’re bigger and stronger and they executed very well.”

Next up for O’Fallon

The Panthers now will prepare for Alton. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, and Gettis looks forward to returning home after road games with the Maroons and Belleville East.

“Alton always has some good athletes and they always present some problems,” he said. “It’s a good thing we’re playing them at home ... we feel good about that. We have a really good senior group and they understand what we have in front of us. We’ll watch the film and correct our mistakes.

“You’re never as bad as you think you are and you’re never as good as you think you are. So we’re going to be ready to play ... they’ll be fired up and ready to go playing at home.”

Next up for Belleville West

The Maroons, meanwhile, will gear up for the showdown with Belleville East. With the Lancers at 3-4 and fighting for a playoff birth, Wells would like nothing more than to spoil the party.

“We know they’re teetering on a playoff on a berth and we would love to end their season and get that win,” Wells said. “That would be huge for us. We have to keep the kids motivated. Even though we were down after the O’Fallon game, once I said it was ‘East Week’ all the boys’ faces changed because they knew how serious it was. We’ll just get back in there Monday and get ready for East.”

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15.

East drops 1-point outcome to Edwardsville

A near-miss on a two-point conversion in the second overtime was all that stood between Belleville East and a momentous victory against Edwardsville on Friday night.

Trailing 28-21 in the second overtime, the Lancers scored to draw within a point. With momentum on East’s side, coach Michael Harrison went for the victory, but the two-point conversion pass to the end zone narrowly missed an open receiver, leaving the outcome at 28-27.

“We overthrew a kid wide open in the end zone. Unfortunately, that’s how it goes sometimes,” Harrison said. “We just didn’t execute on that play. There’s typically four or five plays that dictate the outcome of a game and that happened to be one of them today.”

Harrison further explained his decision to go for the win.

“We got an extra point blocked on our first touchdown and converted on a two-point conversion play in regulation,” he said. “When we get into the overtime period, that second overtime, we had been moving the ball the entire second half and tried to win the game right there. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out in our favor.

“We had the momentum and our thinking was we can win the game right there and end it right there and that’s what we decided to do.”

Strong bounceback from O’Fallon loss

The Lancers dropped to 3-4 overall, 1-3 in the Southwestern Conference. The Tigers improved to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in league action.

While the Lancers fell a bit short, Harrison lauded his club’s showing, specifically with how well they regrouped from a 49-13 loss to O’Fallon the week prior.

“It was a little bit of a tale of two halves. We played them well in the first half but couldn’t capitalize on a couple things,” Harrison said of the Edwardsville game. “We talked to them at halftime and told them we weren’t going to really change the game plan ... we just needed to block and tackle better. Coming out of halftime we felt like if we could capitalize on a couple key plays we’d be okay.

“The kids played great and gave tremendous effort. It was great to see them bounce back after a rough last one last week. We just came up short in the end.”

Lancers prep for Maroons

Next up for Belleville East is the Belleville West game. And if playing their rivals wasn’t enough incentive, that’s Senior Day for the Lancers, who also need a victory to remain in playoff contention.

“Now it’s really win or go home,” Harrison said. “This game always has a lot of weight. With it being that cross town rivalry, no matter good of a season or how had of a season either team is having, it’s always close ball game. Like I told our guys, it’s like we’re playing our cousins or brothers ... you always get up for this type of game.

“We’ll just talk to them about controlling what we can control, eliminating the distractions. At the end of the day it’s a football game ... we have to make sure to continue to do the things that have made us successful so far.”

Edwardsville concludes league action at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, at East St. Louis.