Flyers complete first step in settling some unfinished business

Two schools with rich football traditions attracted a large crowd for Saturday night's season opener at Bishop Kaffer Stadium in New Lenox.

Both were out to begin making amends for a 2015 season that did not exactly go as planned.

Visiting East St. Louis forfeited its final four games because of a teachers' strike and officially closed with a 3-6 record. Providence was injury-plagued and also finished 3-6.

One team got things going in a positive direction, the other did not. Behind the passing combination of Reyondous Estes to Jeff Thomas and a shutdown defense, East St. Louis blew out to a 28-0 halftime lead en route to a 34-3 victory.

The Flyers, who are ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press Class 7A state poll, were doing what their name suggests, flying all over the field. For the fans in this part of the state who had not seen Thomas previously, they realized in a hurry they were watching one of the best. It comes as no surprise that he is among the most sought-after receivers in the nation.

Thomas finished with five receptions for 170 yards and two touchdowns. He also intercepted a pass. Estes was 8 of 12 for 225 yards through three quarters and finished 11 of 22 for 245.

"Rey and I have great chemistry together," Thomas said. "We just go out and make it happen each week. We executed well on offense and our defense donated them."

"Jeff plays at my speed and I play at his speed," Estes said. "We just do what we do on the field."

East St. Louis took the opening kickoff, and Thomas caught a 45-yard scoring bomb from Estes to cap a 78-yard drive and put the Flyers up, 6-0.

Later in the first quarter, a bad snap with the Celtics in their shotgun formation resulted an East St. Louis fumble recovery at the Providence 15-yard line. Three plays later, Jarrell Anderson scored from 2 yards out and Estes ran for the two-point conversion and a 14-0 lead.

It was more of the same in the second quarter as Estes and Perez Hall hooked up on a 28-yard pass-and-run play to set up Anderson's 7-yard scoring run that made it 20-0. On the Flyers' subsequent possession, Thomas' remarkable grab of a 49-yard bomb from Estes set up Jigg Brown's 3-yard touchdown run. Estes threw for the two-point conversion, and with 5:36 left before halftime, East St Louis led, 28-0.

All that time while Estes and Thomas were having their way with Providence's defense, the Celtics' offense was having no luck penetrating the Flyers' defense. Providence finished the first half with 10 net yards of offense. Two of their three first downs at that point came via penalty.

An injury that was especially devastating to the 2015 Celtics was the one to tailback Richie Warfield. He is back healthy, but in the first half Saturday, he mustered 11 yards in eight carries and had no run of more than 3 yards. For the game, he finished with 13 carries for 15 yards and caught four passes for 7 yards.

"Our defense is the heart of our team," Estes said. "The stronger our defense is, the stronger our offense is. They turn the ball over to us on offense."

Providence scored first in the second half. A 15-yard penalty on East St. Louis, a 12-yard connection from Celtics quarterback Jared Drake to Martez Malone and Warfield's tough 3-yard run on a fourth-and-1 set up Eduardo Favela's 31-yard field goal to make it 28-3 midway through the third quarter.

Estes and Thomas were not finished, however, not by a long shot. Estes went 3 of 3 for 75 yards on the ensuing East St. Louis drive, culminating in a 48-yard toss to a tumbling Thomas at the goal line. That made it 34-3.

"I couldn’t be more proud of those guys," Flyers coach Darren Sunkett said. "The only problem we left a couple drive on the field where we should have scored. But overall we played a fine game.

"I really enjoy watching Jeff Thomas from the sideline. We really want to keep him healthy. His hamstring has been bothering him. He is one heck of a football player. Rey Estes had a fine game as well. We really ran the ball well and our offensive line did a great job.

"On the defensive side of the ball, we were really worried about Warfield and we totally shut him down."

This story was originally published August 28, 2016 at 10:45 AM with the headline "Flyers complete first step in settling some unfinished business."