EAST ST. LOUIS – In a tight defensive struggle that went on throughout the game, Phillip White’s interception in the final two minutes was the clincher as East St. Louis won its ninth straight Southwestern Conference championship with a tight 14-7 win over Edwardsville Friday night at Clyde C. Jordan Memorial Stadium.
The long-awaited matchup between the Tigers and Flyers didn’t disappoint, as both teams played very well throughout.
“I think both sides did play well,” said Edwardsville head coach Kelsey Pickering. “It looks as normally, East Side scores in bunches, so it looks like defense, but in all three phases of the game, we played well, but it just wasn’t well enough tonight.”
Winning the ninth consecutive SWC championship for the Flyers was an important milestone in upholding their rich football tradition.
“That’s always the first goal,” said East Side head coach Darren Sunkett. “If we can do anything else, before we go on in the playoffs, you’ve got to win the conference championship. Winning that ninth one if a row is big, and it’s a great accomplishment for these kids, holding up the tradition of players in the past. So, I’m very proud of our accomplishment.”
At the end, the emotions of the game were tough on everyone, as the Flyers were able to pull out the win on the interception.
“Yeah, it’s tough,” Pickering said of the close loss to East Side. “I mean, a lot of people don’t get to see the work that takes place between Saturdays and Fridays. And so, hopefully, we grow from this, I know we will. We’ve got a good group of kids, we’ve got a lot of football, hopefully, left in front of us. And that’s a good team, right? Again, it’s a good barometer for us, yeah, you don’t like losing. We had an opportunity to win a conference championship; we didn’t get that part done. So now, the coaches will get back on the drawing board, we’ll figure out the reasons why, we will take it back to the kids, and hopefully be better.”
Just barely losing to a state championship team the caliber of East Side gives Pickering much optimism ahead for the Tigers
“I think if we execute, we do the things supposed to do,” Pickering said, “I’ll take our team when we’re playing anybody.”
The Tigers were able to score first almost halfway through the second quarter, which was an important advantage.
“That was the deal, it was 0-0,” Pickering said, “so anytime you can get on top of anybody, I don’t care who you’re playing, if you can score first, it can make a difference, and I think it showed, all the way, through the second quarter, 7-7 at the half, a total of three touchdowns tonight, on two teams that can put up a lot of points. So, it’s a tough one. I know they practice hard, they do things the right way, and they get after it. So, for us to be able to compete against them is a positive, obviously, it’s not the outcome we were wanting.”
East Side took the lead on the first possession of the second half, and it was very important in determining the eventual outcome of the game.
The Flyers took the opening kickoff and drove the field well, getting good run from both Larevious “Fresh” Woods and TaRyan Martin, but in the end, turned the ball over on downs. On the Tigers’ opening drive, Edwardsville was forced to punt, and from there, the defenses took over, with neither team able to sustain an edge as the opening quarter ended up scoreless.
Near the halfway point of the second quarter, the Tigers got the first big break of the game when quarterback Yale Weaver completed a pass to Chad Lakatos 52 yards to the Flyer one, where Javion Smith took it in on the next play to put the Tigers up 7-0 with 6:42 left in the half.
The Flyers took the next possession and used 5:04 to drive 68 yards in 12 plays, the final play being Lyons’ touchdown run from four yards out, stretching himself over the goal line to tie the game 7-7. The Tigers took the next possession and went down the field, but couldn’t score on the last play, when a pass went through the hands of the receiver at the end, leaving the score at 7-7 at halftime.
At the start of the second half, East Side took the ball after a punt, and promptly went 41 yards in four plays, the climax being Woods going to the left, and running in from 19 yards away to give the Flyers a 14-7 lead. The Tigers had some success moving the ball after that, but their drives stalled out, and on the final possession, Edwardsville drove to the East Side 29, when White intercepted Weaver’s final pass to clinch the game and the championship for the Flyers 14-7 The Flyers got a critical first down late, allowing them to run out the clock to preserve the win.
East Side is now 8-0 on the year, and plays its regular season finale at home next Friday against IMG Academy of Bradenton, Fla., a national power, while the Tigers go to 6-2, and host DeSmet Jesuit of Creve Coeur, Mo., next week in their regular-season finale. Both games kick off at 7 p.m.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
