Motivated by last year’s loss, East St. Louis flies into 6A title game with confidence
One roadblock remains between East St. Louis and the program’s 11th state championship in football.
The top-seeded Flyers (12-1) have shredded four postseason opponents and now will face second-seeded Geneva (12-1) for the IHSA Class 6A crown at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30, at Hancock Stadium on the campus of Illinois State University.
And East St. Louis is ready.
The Flyers lost 23-20 in the 2023 state championship game to Cary-Grove, and junior outside linebacker Keandre McClendon is elated about returning to state. He expects to come home with the hardware.
“It feels great,” Martin said after Saturday’s 48-0 semifinal win against second-seeded Oak Lawn Richards. “I’ve been here before so there’s not too much pressure on us. We’ve been dialed in real good, locked in, doing things over and over … practice makes perfect.
“We’re going to bring home a state championship, and it’s going to feel very special.”
To say East St. Louis has overwhelmed its first four playoff foes would be underselling its complete dominance.
Overall, the Flyers have outscored their postseason opponents by a combined score of 221-14 with each game ultimately having the running clock mercy rule, which kicks in after the margin reaches 40 points.
East St. Louis now hopes to continue its stellar play against a Geneva team that defeated top-seeded Cary-Grove 28-26 in the state semifinals.
“I just know they’re disciplined,” sophomore wide receiver Ronnie Gomiller said. “It’s not easy to beat Cary-Grove, so for them to come out on top, they’ve got to be very disciplined.”
East St. Louis and Geneva do have history with the Flyers beating the Vikings 33-14 in the 2008 state title game at Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Illinois.
“I haven’t seen Geneva since 2008,” said Flyers coach Darren Sunkett, whose team is playing in their fifth-straight state championship game. “They were a great team back then and from what I hear they’re once again a great team. They wouldn’t be a great team if they weren’t playing next year. We’re definitely looking forward to facing them.”
SCOUTING GENEVA
The Vikings are seeded third and enter the game on a five-game winning streak and 13-1 overall mark. Geneva finished in a three-way tie for the Dukane Football Conference title with a 6-1 mark.
Since a 34-21 setback to St. Charles North on Oct. 25, Geneva has put up point totals of 49, 42, 49 and 49 before posting 28 the semifinal victory against Cary-Grove.
Overall, the Vikings feature a balanced attack that includes a 1,000-yard rusher, a 1,500-yard receiver and a quarterback with more than 3,000 passing yards. Defensively, Geneva is +19 in turnovers.
“Our team has been able to have success in a variety of ways both on offense and defense,” Thorgesen said. “We are a balanced team and have an opportunistic defense.”
Senior quarterback Anthony Chachino powers the Vikings’ attack, as he’s thrown 3,277 yards and 46 touchdown passes this season. In the semifinal win against Cary-Grove, Chachino completed 22 passes for 381 yards and two touchdowns.
Chachino’s favorite target in 2024 has been senior Talyn Taylor, who has 1,501 receiving yards, 76 receptions and 25 touchdowns. Overall, he’s averaging 115.5 receiving yards per game. Against Cary-Grove, Taylor grabbed 11 receptions for 199 yards and one touchdown.
Senior Michael Rumoro paces the running game with 1,014 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns.
On defense, senior middle/outside linebacker Sean Lane averages 6.5 tackles per game, while senior middle linebacker Troy Valez is averaging 5.5 sacks a contest.
SCOUTING EAST ST. LOUIS
Senior QB Kendrick Lyons anchors the potent East St. Louis attack. Lyons threw 17 touchdowns in the regular season and has added 11 more to his total this postseason, including two scoring strikes in a 48-0 quarterfinal win against Oak Lawn Richards. Overall, Lyons has 2,391 passing yards this season.
Meanwhile, the Flyers have a talented collection of running backs, including senior Larevious Woods (15 touchdowns, 719 rushing yards) and sophomore Amir Tillman (4906 rushing yards, 10 touchdowns). Senior running back TaRyan Martin also has rushed for 774 yards this fall and enjoyed a huge game in the semifinals.
Martin finished with 148 rushing yards and two touchdowns, including scores of 43 and 65 yards. He caught a touchdown pass as well.
Sophomore Ronnie GoMiller (eight touchdowns) and junior Kortez Rupert (660 receiving yards, eight touchdowns) have enjoyed terrific seasons at wide receiver. GoMiller has hauled in 29 receptions for 507 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.
Rupert has 660 receiving yards on 24 receptions (27.5 average) and, in the semifinals, caught a 44-yard touchdown from Lyons on the game’s third play.
Senior Christopher Bennett Jr. also has seven receiving touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns this fall.
McClendon spearheads the Flyers’ defense, averaging 12.3 tackles per game, with senior outside/middle linebacker Elmo Gilliam Jr. close behind at 10.1 tackles per game. McClendon also has six sacks, while senior cornerback Raheem Floyd leads the team with four interceptions.
East St. Louis has impressed Geneva coach Tory Thorgeson, who noted his team faces a big challenge Saturday.
“We are going to play a great team in East St. Louis,” he said. “The success they continually have year in, and year out is unmatched in Illinois. They are an extremely well coached, physical, and explosive team. Their defense is fantastic with great players and scheme and their offense has the ability to score quickly and often.”
A FINAL LOOK
Sunkett lauded his team’s work ethic and noted they spent the entire offseason pointing toward this moment.
“You work your butt off from the winter offseason conditioning to the summer conditioning and from August to now,” he said. “We’re definitely excited and looking forward to the opportunity to play next weekend.
“We’ve got one more game, and we’re looking for to these guys playing the same way next weekend.”
On the other side, win or lose Saturday, Thorgeson is thrilled with the season.
“The town, school, and community are extremely proud of our team,” he said. “The kids had a goal all year long of reaching the state game and to see them achieve their goals is all you can ask for as a coach.”
KEY DETAILS
Kickoff: 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30, at Hancock Stadium on the campus of Illinois State University.
How the Flyers got here: East St. Louis defeated No. 16 Springfield High School 67-0, No. 8 Normal West 48-0; No. 5 Chatham Glenwood 58-14; and No. 2 Oak Lawn Richards 48-0.
How the Vikings got here: Geneva defeated No. 14 Chicago Amundsen 49-7; No. 6 Burlington Central 42-28; No. 7 Lake Forest 49-14; and No. 1 Geneva 28-26.
Notes: The two teams met in the 2008 title game at Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Illinois with the Flyers rolling to a 33-14 victory; had Cary-Grove defeated the Vikings, it would have set up a rematch of the 2023 title game with East St. Louis.