Watch Now “IHSA Class 3 A Regional Semi-Finals From Gene Baker Field”
GRANITE CITY – Will Rockwell had a hat trick, while Sam Gebhart had a goal and two assists as top-seeded Belleville West, leading at halftime 1-0, scored four times in a 10-minute span in the second half, including two goals seconds apart, as the Maroons took a 7-0 win over Alton in the first semifinal of the IHSA Class 3A boys soccer regional Tuesday afternoon at Granite City’s Gene Baker Field.
The win advances the Maroons to the final of Friday evening, where they’ll play Collinsville, a 2-1 winner over the host Warriors in the second semifinal.
Leading by the only goal of the first half, West went on their tear in the second half, going on their four-goal spree that ultimately decided the match, and Maroon head coach Jason Mathenia, a former Warrior player himself under the legendary Baker in the 80s, was quite happy with the way things turned out.
“We feel pretty good,” Mathenia said after the match. “I mean, we played pretty well the second half. The first half, we dealt with a little bit of adversity, the wind was pretty strong, and in our faces. We just couldn’t seem to get the right things together, the second half, we got the wind to our advantage, it died down a little bit, but we calmed down the play. When we’re able to calm down and play, we have better opportunities to be dangerous.”
The Maroons have enjoyed a very successful season this year, and are the odds-on favorite to emerge from the Metro-East area to go to state and possibly win the Class 3A championship. It’s an idea Mathenia is thrilled with.
“We feel great,” Mathenia said, “but all credit to these guys. They’ve been working really hard since June to even have the opportunity to have the success they’re having this year, and we take one game at a time. We’re not looking past the winner of this game by any means, because it could potentially be a battle. But we just take one game at a hand, one game at a time, and just hope we can play consistently, like we did in the second half, moving forward.”
If the Maroons make it to the state finals, it would be a watershed moment for Belleville soccer overall, in an area, when the top teams in the past have been both Granite City and Collinsville. The Maroons play good, enterprising soccer, and Mathenia is very appreciative of that.
“I do appreciate that,” Mathenia said. “It’s this group we’ve kind of building around the last couple of years, and we’re senior strong, we’re junior strong, and this is just what they’ve been trying to get in their style all the time. Just happy we played much better in the second half, and proud of my guys, for sure.”
The Redbirds kept playing hard and hanging in there, but the second half blitz by West was just too much to overcome, ending a season of improvement for Alton, and the promise of better days ahead.
“Well, not too good,” said Alton head coach Greg Nasello when asked how we was feeling after the match. “We really played a hard first half, kept the game within a chance to get back in it, and just could not get ourselves up in the second half. So, hopefully, offseason, we get some guys playing, developing, and can improve on where we were this year.”
It was a season where the Redbirds improved in many ways, but injuries took their toll on the team in the long run.
“We started well,” Nasello said “The problem was we had so many injuries, and we just couldn’t recover from it. We got some guys back, but it’s part of the game. So, I’m proud of my guys, they gave me everything I asked them to do, and that’s something we can build on.”
Nasello is hoping for a better start in 2025, and is looking ahead to next season already.
“Well, hopefully, we can get ourselves in a better start,” Nasello said, “and not have the injuries we had this year. But you never know what’s going to happen here. We’ll just keep improving our skill, become better defenders, and be a better team next year.”
The Maroons scored the only goal of the first half in the 19th minute, when Sam Gebhart picked up a loose ball near the box, went to his left, and slotted the ball home to give West the 1-0 lead. Alton had some great chances in the remainder o the period, especially late in the first half, but nothing went into the back of the net as the Maroons took their 1-0 lead into the interval.
When the second half started, West doubled the lead when Rockwell scored his first from close range to give the Maroons a 2-0 lead. It became 3-0 when Braden Missey slipped a shot past the Redbird keeper into the corner of the goal, then seconds later, Rockwell slotted home a ball into the net off a cross to put West ahead 4-0, both goals coming in the 49th minute.
Rockwell completed his hat trick in the 51st minute when he made a good run towards goal and slotted home again to increase the lead to 5-0. In the 54th minute, Clayton Corelll scored to fish the blitz to make it 6-0. Cole Tribout completed the scoring with a goal in the 61st minute to give the Maroons their 7-0 win, advancing to the final.
The Redbirds’ season ends at 5-14-1, while the Maroons go to 16-5-0, and face the Kahoks in the final at 5 p.m. Friday. The winner goes to the Alton sectional at Public School Stadium on Oct 29 against the Quincy winner in the semifinals, with the sectional final set for Nov. 1 at 6 p.m.
The Alton winner plus in the Normal Community super-sectional match against the winner of the Naperville North sectional winner Nov 5 at 6 p.m. The state finals are set for Nov. 8-9 at Hoffman Estates High School in northwest suburban Chicagoland.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
