BELLEVILLE – Star running back Dierre Hill, Jr., ran for 117 yards and scored four touchdowns in the first quarter, while quarterback Jayden Ellington three four four scores in the first half, as Belleville Althoff Catholic built a 48-0 halftime lead, and went on to a 54-7 win over Casey-Westfield in the quarterfinals of the IHSA Class 1A football playoffs on a sunny, but cool, Saturday afternoon, Nov. 16, 2024, at George Martz Field in Belleville.
The Crusaders move on to the semifinals at 12-0, and on to a date next Saturday at home against defending champion Camp Point Central, a 16-7 winner over Hardin Calhoun Saturday evening, in a rematch of last year’s 42-22 loss to the Panthers in the quarterfinals. It’s also Althoff’s first trip to the semifinals since 2015. The Warriors finish at 10-2.
The Crusaders scored on their first seven possession of the game, building a 34-0 lead in the first quarter, and never looked back, staying on the gas the entire time.
Althoff head coach Austin Frazier said: “We had a really good first half against Carrollton, and we were fortunate enough to have a running clock, and kind of picked up right from there. The offense, defense, special teams really kept peaking at the right time. We’re happy with where we’re at, but it doesn’t matter if we don’t get better tomorrow, and get better on Monday, because we’ll have a tough opponent in the semis.”
As for the proceedings against Casey-Westfield, the Crusaders rolled right from the opening kickoff, and was on cruise control for much of the game, never letting up.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Frazier said. “We’re getting into that. We’ve played 11 games, we expect our execution to be at a high level, so, yeah, happy with where we’re at, and if we don’t get better Monday, it doesn’t really matter, so we’re excited about going into this week of process, and practice, and meetings, and making sure our focus stays where it’s supposed to be.”
Indeed, Frazier and his team are looking ahead to the semifinal next Saturday.
“Absolutely,” Frazier said with a smile. “We’re going to go watch the game right now.”
It took Althoff eight plays to score on the game’s opening possession, ending with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Ellington to Steven Brown to put the Crusaders ahead 7-0 after just over three minutes. After recovering a fumble on the Warriors’ third play from scrimmage, Althoff got another touchdown when Hill ran in from 15 yards away to increase the lead to 14-0. On the third possession, Hill scored his second touchdown of the period on a nifty 40-yard run, but the conversion kick hit off the upright and bounced away, giving the Crusaders a 20-0 lead.
It quickly became 27-0 after Althoff got the ball back following an interception. Penalties but the ball back on the 25, but Ellington got off a good pass to Hill, who made the catch and went in for the touchdown, the fourth straight for the Crusaders with 1:30 left in the quarter. Althoff then recovered a fumbled kickoff, and scored again 31 seconds later, when Hill went in from two yards out to give the Crusaders a 34-0 lead.
Ellington connected on two touchdown passes in the second quarter, 33 yards to Kylin Jordan, who made a great catch to score, and 28 yards to Charleston Coldon to make the halftime score 48-0, triggering the second-half running clock.
The Warriors got on the board in the third quarter, when Kellen Sullivan went on a 29-yard touchdown run that featured a couple of great cutbacks to make the score 48-7, but in the fourth quarter, Drew McGee fell on a fumble at the end zone for another touchdown, but on the two-point attempt, in a very classy gesture, quarterback Mason Thacker took a knee and ended the play, creating the 54-7 final.
Ellington wound up the game 10-for-12 passing for 188 yards and four touchdowns, while Hill ran for 117 yards and four touchdowns. Coldon caught four passes for 71 yards and a score, and Ellington added 40 yards on the ground, and the defense created three turnovers, all of which were cashed in for touchdowns.
The Crusaders and Panthers will play their seminal showdown next Saturday at George Martz Field in a 2 p.m. kickoff, with the winner playing either Lena-Winslow or LeRoy in the final on Nov. 29 at 10 a.m. at Hancock Stadium on the campus of Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal.
