CARROLLTON – Belleville Althoff Catholic quarterback Jayden Ellington scored two touchdowns and passed for two more, while Logan Thompson took a kickoff back 88 yards for another touchdown as the Crusaders took a 43-21 win over Carrollton in an IHSA Class 1A second-round football playoff game on a damp and dreary Saturday afternoon at Carrollton’s field.
The Crusaders built a 43-3 halftime lead and never looked back.
Carrollton head coach Rodney Flowers said after the game Althoff was probably the best team the Hawks had faced in their long playoff history.
Althoff scored first on a 14-yard run by Oregon recruit and star running back Dierre Hill, Jr., but missed the conversion, leaving the score at 6-0. In the second quarter, Ellington ran in from one yard out to make it 14-0 after Hill ran in for a two-pointer, with Carrollton getting a 35-yard field goal from Lucas Howard to make the score 14-3.
Thompson took the ensuing kickoff back 88 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-3, and it opened the floodgates for Althoff. Ellington ran in from nine yards out, then threw four yards to Kylin Jordan, and nine yards to Charleston Coldon, with Hill running in for another two-pointer along the way, to make the halftime score 43-3.
The Hawks finished strong in the second half, as Howard scored twice, on a pair of three-yard runs, and added on another 35-yard field goal, while Charlie Stumpf ran in for a two-pointer after a fumbled snap to make the final 43-21.
Carrollton ends its season at 7-4, while Althoff goes to 11-0, and will host Casey Westfield, a 16-0 winner over Mt. Sterling Brown County, in the third quarterfinal game at George Martz Field next Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
