Belleville East loses lead in tough Southwestern Conference loss at Edwardsville

Despite getting a 10-6 first-half lead on a 1-yard Machal Henderson touchdown and a 31-yard Grayson Parker field goal, the Belleville East Lancers could not come away with a win in high school football action at Edwardsville Friday night.

The host Tigers scored a pair of second-half touchdowns and their defense stopped the Lancers cold in posting a 20-10 Southwestern Conference win Friday night.

A second-quarter 13-yard touchdown run by Steven Moore, Jr., gave the Tigers their first-half points.

Edwardsville (6-1, 4-0 ) pulled ahead with six minutes left in the third quarter on Javion Smith’s 5-yard touchdown run, going up 13-10.

Tigers junior quarterback Yale Weaver gave the lead some cushion with a 2-yard keeper run for a touchdown, making it 20-10 with two minutes left in the third quarter.

The game was not without controversy. Weaver and Edwardsville running back Steven Moore misconnected on a handoff, setting off a scramble for the loose ball in the Tigers’ backfield. East senior linebacker Jerry Avan appeared to scoop up the loose ball with nothing but open field between him and a score, but the referees blew the ball dead, ruling Weaver had regained possession.

Belleville East slipped to 4-3 and 2-2 in conference play with the loss.

Althoff Catholic 46, Breese Mater Dei 6

Althoff senior star running back Dierre Hill Jr. keyed a 26-point second-quarter explosion for the Crusaders, scoring three of his four touchdowns. The Crusaders parlayed a 32-0 halftime lead into a 46-6 runaway win Friday night at Mater Dei in Breese.

Hill, who will attend Oregon next year, scored on touchdown runs of 99, 85, and 8 yards in the second quarter.

Fellow senior Charleston Coldon hauled in a 55-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Ellington in the first quarter and added a score on a 29-yard pass from Ellington just before the half, putting the Crusaders in control at the intermission.

Hill scored his final touchdown of the night in the third quarter on an 82-yard run and a 37-yard Ellington to Kylin Jordan pass finished out the scoring for Althoff midway through the third quarter.

Chase Zurliene connected with Evan Kreke on an 11-yard scoring pass for the Knights’ lone touchdown. Althoff moved to 7-0 with the win. Mater Dei falls to 3-4 on the season.

O’Fallon 18, Belleville West 15

A week after being routed by East St. Louis 63-10, Belleville West tried to right the ship at home against Southwestern Conference foe O’Fallon.

That did not quite happen.

O’Fallon’s Brogan Hartman booted a 45-yard field with two minutes left, as winless O’Fallon, stunned the Maroons 18-15 Friday night at Bob Goalby Field.

O’Fallon picked up its first win of the 2024 season, moving to 1-6.

West, dropping its third straight game after a 3-1 start.

East St. Louis 57, Alton 0

It was another week of high-octane offense for the unbeaten East St Louis Flyers football team.

East Side (7-0, 4-0) started fast once again behind its “All gas, No brakes” offense, cruising to an easy 57-0 Southwestern Conference victory over struggling Alton.

The Flyers have scored 40 or more points in their last four consecutive wins, including scoring over 50 points in the past three games.

Alton dropped to 0-7 (0-4) and suffered its third shutout.

This story was originally published October 12, 2024 at 11:55 AM.