BELLEVILLE – Dierre Hill, Jr., is the biggest part of the Belleville Althoff Catholic football team, but the Crusaders have other weapons at their disposal, and Althoff showed them off on Friday night. Althoff’s quarterback Jayden Ellington threw for 330 yards and six touchdowns, while receiver Charleston Coldon caught five balls for 116 yards and a touchdown, as Althoff took a 54-14 win over Collinsville Friday night at George Martz Field.
The win put the Cruaders at 6-0 for the season, officially clinching an IHSA playoff berth with three weeks left, and head coach Austin Frazier was very pleased with the result. Althoff is determined to get better in the final three weeks of the season, going into November football.
“We were happy with the end result For us, it’s just about we’re still trying to get better each day,” Althoff’s Coach Frazier said. “So, it was nice to be able to achieve, 6-0, it’s nice to be able to check off that sixth win. We are playoff qualified, we are playoff guaranteed. Now, it’s just like how we improve upon this performance, individually, collectively, as a team.”
Star running back Hill had another good game, with 91 yards rushing, and was a threat each time he touched the ball.
The Kahoks dropped to 3-3, but the Kahoks kept hanging in, and are ready to turn the page on the game.
“You know, not too great,” said Collinsville head coach Colton Rhodes. “A 40-point loss is always going to sting a little bit, but we just didn’t execute the way we wanted to, and thought about it all week. So, we’re hoping to get this tough one out this Friday, and we’re just going to move right on to Marion for next week.”
The Crusaders struck for two quick touchdowns almost halfway through the first quarter, the first two touchdown passes on the night for Ellington. He hit Aaron Powell from 43 yards out, then on the next possession, struck for a 60-yard pass to Hill, who had four receptions on the night for 90 yards, to make it 14-0 for Althoff. The Kahoks countered with a 79-yard touchdown option pass from Zach Priest to a wide-open Amari Rodgers-Parrot, making the score 14-7 after the first quarter.
Althoff extended the lead to 21-7 on a one-yard run by Steven Brown early in the second, then went ahead 28-7 on a 12-yard pass from Ellington to Cooper Zimmer, and with 12 seconds left in the first half, Ellington hit Kylin Jordan on a perfect pass in the far left corner of the end zone, Jordan making a big catch, from 14 yards out, the Crusaders taking a 34-7 lead after missing the conversion.
Althoff recovered a fumbled kickoff to start the second half, and immediately cashed in, when Hill rambled in on a nifty 16-yard run early in the third to put the Crusaders up 41-7. Olden then caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Ellington, his fifth of the game, on the next possession to up the score to 48-7, setting the second-half running clock rule in motion.
The Kahoks got their only other touchdown when Devin Habelmehl hauled in a nine-yard pass from Chase Reynold to make the score 48-14. The final toudhdown came in the fourth quarter, when Ellington threw 55 yards to Logan Thompson halfway through the fourth quarter to make the final 54-14 after the conversion was missed.
Althoff is now 6-0, and plays at Mater Dei next Friday night, then finish the regular season at Granite City on Oct. 18, and against Maple Park Kaneland on Oct. 25 at home. The Kahoks go to 3-3, and host Marion next week, followed by road games at Cahokia in week eight, and Triad in week nine. Kickoff for all games will be 7 p.m.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
