Flyers’ bid falls short of Cary Grove and an 11th state football title for East St. Louis

The East Side football team had its second chance in three years to knock off Cary Grove in the IHSA Class 6A championship game on Saturday.

But the Trojans’ Logan Abrams and Jesse Weaver ruined the Flyers hopes for their 11^th state title.

Abrams finished off an 11-minute, fourth-quarter drive with a 2-yard touchdown run and Weaver added a game-sealing interception in the final minute of play as the Trojans pulled off a 23-20 comeback win to claimed the Class 6A championship at Hancock Stadium in Normal on the Illinois State University campus.

The championship was the fourth in program history for Cary Grove (12-2) and a big rebound from 2022, in which they missed the playoffs as defending champions.

“It was just a great game by everybody,” Cary Grove coach Brad Seaburg said. “I’m proud of everybody and it was a great win for our kids, for our program, and for our town.”

Abrams got the Trojans on the board first thanks to a 1-yard scoring run to cap a 16-play drive to start the game.

East Side responded with a score on its first drive as Robert Pops Battle scored on a 2-yard run cutting the lead to 8-6 at 11:57 of the second quarter.

Three minutes later, Cary Grove struck through the air, extending its lead to 15-6 on a 20-yard Peyton Seaburg to Andrew Prio touchdown pass.

The Flyers drove deep into Trojan territory late in the first half but turned the ball over on downs.

East Side did not have a pass play 20 yards or more as Cary Grove secondary put the clamps on Flyer receivers Jesse Watson and Rico Bond, who were held to a combined 47 yards receiving.

“They were overflowing (our receivers) and they’re a dang good defense, so I have to give them a lot of credit,” East St. Louis coach Darren Sunkett said.

East St. Louis (11-3) opened up the second half up-tempo on offense and went straight to end zone on the opening drive. Larevious Woods scored on a slick 18-yard run which cut the lead to 15-13.

After a big fourth-down stop by the Flyers’ defense late in the third quarter, East St. Louis cashed in again as Woods scored on a 2-yard run giving the Flyers their only lead of the day, 20-15, at the the start of fourth quarter.

Cary Grove got the ball back and rode sophomore running back Abrams for a bruising 10 minute, 42 second drive. Abrams capped the march with his second score of the day on a 2-yard run making it 23-20 with 1:19 left. Abrams finished the day with 87 yards rushing on 31 carries.

“We just continued to do the stuff we’ve been working on all winter and grid the clock out on every play,” Abrams said.

It was also a tough day for Battle, as the Lindenwood University bound senior went down with a late third quarter injury after throwing for 139 yards on 14 of 16 passing.

“I hate to seeing his career end the way it happened but he’s had a great four-year career and he gave it all up for his team today,” Sunkett said.

The Flyers had one last shot to come back but Reese Shanklin’s second down pass up the middle was picked off by Weaver at the Flyers’ 34-yard line and the Trojans ran out the clock to celebrate their state title victory.

“They gave all we had and we just came up a little bit short,” Sunkett said.

This story was originally published November 25, 2023 at 5:56 PM.