Belleville East posts league victory, while West & Althoff suffer road losses Friday night

Strong line play paved the way for Belleville East’s decisive 33-14 Southwestern Conference road win against Alton on Friday night.

Lancers coach Michael Harrison was pleased with how both the defensive and offensive sides controlled the line of scrimmage.

“I thought our guys played really well up front on both our offensive and defensive lines,” he said. “We were able to run pretty effectively and stop their running game. I thought our kids up front on the offensive and defensive lines played one of their better games of the season.”

East improved to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in league action while bouncing back swiftly from a 57-0 to East St. Louis on Sept. 17. Alton fell to 1-4 overall, 0-1 in SWC play.

“This was a big one after a tough loss last week,” Harrison said. “It was just good to get back in the win column. In terms of our mentality, our kids were really good about not being down on themselves, learning from their mistakes and bouncing back. We had a great week of practice and I think that led to us performing well tonight.”

The Lancers’ opening drive essentially set the tone, as they took eight minutes off the clock before capping it off with a touchdown.

“I thought that really set the tone not just for us being able to run the ball and move the ball, but for Alton to look up and with two or three minutes left in the first quarter and the first time you’re touching the ball you’re already trailing, that kind of sets you behind the 8-ball,” Harrison said. “It was nice to not only run the ball but control the clock and dictate that pace of the game as well.”

Junior Markevious Curiton had two rushing touchdowns for the Lancers, while junior Brandon Coleman and senior Moisey Trimble had one touchdown apiece on the ground. Junior Armon Vinson connected with classmate Jaiden Harrington on a touchdown pass for East’s other score.

Harrison’s club now turns their attention to a strong O’Fallon club, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1.

“O’Fallon is obviously having some success this season,” Harrison said. “I know their quarterback is able to throw the ball around a little bit and they can score some points. O’Fallon is big one for us. We’re going to look forward to celebrating tonight and then tomorrow get right to work on O’Fallon.”

Althoff drops road game against Centralia

One week after surrendering 68 points to Mount Vernon, the Crusaders’ defense showed marked improvement only allowing 16 in Friday night’s game at Centralia

However, the offense — which scored 41 against the Rams — only posted seven points against the Orphans and the end result was a 16-7 setback.

“The defense did a good job bouncing back and played tough all night,” said Althoff coach Austin Frazier, whose team led 7-3 at halftime. “Offensively we had some positive moments, we were doing some good things ... honestly we had some penalties that often got us behind the chains. And when you’re constantly behind the chains it makes things difficult. Sometimes those things happen on Friday nights.

“We hope to be able to bounce back from it. It was certainly more difficult on us than we maybe made on ourselves. But that’s high school football sometimes I guess.”

The Crusaders dropped to 2-3 overall, 0-2 in South Seven Conference play.

“Centralia is a good opponent and well coached,” Frazier said.

Althoff finally returns home after a three consecutive long road trips to face Marion at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, on Homecoming.

“Marion is a tough group,” Frazier said. “They lost a tough one to Mount Vernon (Friday night). I know they’re going to be coming in hungry. It’s always a tough game against Marion ... we’re looking forward to being at home.”

West falls to Edwardsville

The Maroons faced the Tigers in a SWC road game and suffered a 70-0 setback. West is now 0-5 overall and 0-2 in league play. Edwardsville improved to 4-1, 1-1.

“They’re a very disciplined team, a very physical team. They’re well-coached,” West coach Jason Wells said. “A team like that can’t, you give them extra opportunities. They’ll be a tough out in the (IHSA) Class 8A playoffs come November.”

Edwardsville quarterback Jake Curry ran for two touchdowns and threw scores to Joey DeMare and Kellen Brnfre in the first half and the Tigers never looked back.

Despite the outcome, Wells outlined several bright spots, including the tough running of senior Kyle Hughes — who has gone from quarterback to wide receiver to running back — and the strong punting of sophomore John Hilpert.

Overall, injuries have hamstrung the Maroon as Wells noted the team lost five starters after the Week 1 loss to Danville. That essentially was seven starters, he pointed out, because a couple individuals played both ways.

“These are guys who had every single rep in the summer gone that quickly and we had to scramble to fill their shoes,” Wells said. “We’ve got to play a lot of young guys. The biggest thing is to compete. Enjoy your time playing this game. Whatever happens happens.

The Maroons now face East St. Louis at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, in another league contest. Wells wants his team to keep their respective chins up and realize the opportunity they have simply playing football.

“You’re blessed to have an opportunity to play this game. You have to cherish these memories,” he said. “Eventually, these moments will become memories. We’ve got to see where it goes and finish up these last four games strong.”