Breese Central stuns Cahokia on way to school football history
Down just one point at halftime, the Cahokia football team had the Breese Central Cougars right where they wanted them Saturday afternoon.
Or so it appeared.
Fourth-seeded Breese Central shook off a sluggish first half and exploded for three third-quarter touchdowns, rolling to a 36-12 victory over ninth-seeded Cahokia in an IHSA Class 4A quarterfinal matchup at Cahokia High School.
Breese Central (11-1) advances to the semifinals for the first time in program history next weekend at Rochester.
It was a great end to an emotional week for Central coach Brian Short, who dealt with the loss of a family member.
“It means everything,” he said. “You know, this is three years in a row in the quarterfinals and we have five or six guys that are playing on all those teams as sophomores, juniors. And now to see it through and see them get over the hump means the world to us.”
Cahokia took the early lead late in the first quarter on a 42-yard Nigel Gooden to Hartless Holman touchdown pass.
The two-point conversion failed, and the lead was 6-0.
Central answered late in the second quarter with a Conlan Haar 3-yard touchdown run to go up 7-6 at halftime.
In the second half, the Cougars’ offense got rolling quickly. Cole Davis capped a seven-play drive with a 21-yard touchdown run to start the third quarter.
Davis found the end zone again with two minutes left in the third quarter on a 6-yard touchdown run, pushing the lead to 21-6.
“I think we thought that they were a little tired and were a little lackadaisical, so we just capitalized on that and just kept running and running and running,” Davis said.
Cahokia answered on its next drive as Gooden connected with Holman on a 16-yard touchdown strike, cutting the lead to 21-12 after another failed two-point conversion.
The passing game helped the Comanches’ stagnant offense get some new life. “Once the run game wasn’t working, it was hard to stay with it, and then you got to rely on your quarterback and your skill guys on the outside,” Cahokia coach Darien Donald said. “I kind of feel like I should have gone to it earlier.”
Breese Central responded with a trick play on its next drive that completely caught the Comanches’ defense flat-footed, as the Cougars ran a double reverse flea-flicker pass from quarterback Owen Kehrer to Davis for a 52-yard score that left Cahokia stunned and down 29-12.
“I thought I was gonna drop it at first, but thank god that didn’t happen,” Davis said.
Davis finished out his big day in the fourth quarter with a 47-yard touchdown run to round out the scoring. Davis led the Cougars with three rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown.
“He’s an all-stater, and he played like one today,” Short said. “He’s a specimen, and he’s a great human being.”
Donald said, although the end result was not what the Comanches wanted, his team had nothing to hang their heads about.
“Two years in a row in the quarterfinals, but we just got to do a better job of getting over the hump,” Donald said.
Cahokia finished the season at 9-3.
