BELLEVILLE – Dierre Hill, Jr. perhaps the best player in the entire St. Louis metro area, had an extraordinary day, running 13 times for 318 yards and five touchdowns including runs of 50 and 99 yards, while quarterback Jayden Ellington ran in for two scores, including an explosive 65-yard run on the first play from scrimmage, as Belleville Althoff Catholic advanced to the IHSA Class 1A football final with a convincing 58-19 win over defending champion Camp Point Central Saturday afternoon at George Martz Field.
The Crusaders improved to 13-0 with the semifinal win and will meet Lena-Winslow, a 42-13 winner over LeRoy in the other semifinals, in the championship game next Friday morning at Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal. The Panthers’ season ends at 11-2.
In his postgame interview, Althoff head coach Austin Frazier gave full credit to his players for getting to the final, and credited their hard work to get the Crusaders to where they’re at right now.
“It’s really on these guys,” a very happy Frazier said. “So, you can talk about us being really athletic, really talented, but remember here, disciplined and detailed. We won because we were disciplined and detailed. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Hill, who will play for the University of Oregon next fall, is the tip of the iceberg on a very talented Crusader team that has many good players on its roster.
“Yeah, you know, we’ve got a crazy amount of talent,” Frazier said, “but with talent means preparation, a contact, and point of attack. Hey, fullback, tailback, offensive linemen, they did a great job, too. But, man, like yeah, if Dierre hits a hole, and there’s a crease, he can go 90 pretty quick.”
The defense also stepped up big time, getting a pair of key interceptions, and hold the Panthers out of the end zone twice on heroic goal line stands, especially at the end of the first half, withe Camp Point threatening to score and change the momentum of the game.
“Yeah, we still really need to get off the field on third-and-long right there,” Frazier said, “They’re a run team, and they were running some of that play-action stuff, but we knew we were going to be in a grind-out battle. And key moments came up, and the stop we got at the end of the half, and in the fourth quarter.”
The Crusaders had waited over a year to get back at the Panthers after losing to Camp Point 42-22 in the 2023 quarterfinals. The memories of the loss were on Frazier’s mind all week.
“I thought about it every day,” Frazier said. “All respect to that program. We thought we had a pretty good shot to get into the state finals last year, and Camp Point was the one that was standing in our way, and we thought about that loss every day of the year.”
Ellington’s touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage was a key moment for Althoff, where Hill was a decoy, and Ellington took off on his own and ran for the touchdown that got things going for the Crusaders.
“Jayden got a great read, and he’s pretty fast, too,” Frazier said. “Dierre might have a step or two on him, but it’s not like he’s rushing behind.”
Ellington indeed got the Crusaders off to an explosive start with his 65-yard touchdown run off the option to put Althoff up 7-0. The Panthers came right back on their first play, when quarterback Elijah Gennebacher connected with Nate Peters on a 90-yard touchdown pass, but missed the two-point convert to trail 7-6. Camp Point then took the lead later on when Kale Niekamp ran in from four yards out to give the Panthers a 12-7 lead. Hill came right back with his first touchdown of the game running in from 53 yards, then added a two-pointer to give the Crusaders a 15-12 lead. At the start of the second quarter, Kadin Niekamp ended a Panther drive with a three-yard run to give Camp Point the lead back at 19-15 after the conversion.
That was all the scoring for Central, as Hill scored three straight rushing touchdowns of 38, 24, and 50 yards to put Althoff ahead 36-19. The Panthers were threatening to score on the final possession of the first half, but the Crusader defense posted their first goal line stand of the day, stopping Niekamp short of the goal line as time expired, keeping the score 36-19 at halftime, and giving the Crusaders all of the momentum going into the second half.
Most importantly, Hill had run for 198 yards and four touchdowns in the first half. It was an indication of things to come.
Just past the halfway mark of the third, Ellington took off for his second touchdown of the day, keeping right and rambled in from 45 yards to increase the Althoff lead to 43-19. In the fourth quarter, the Crusaders’ defense held again, stopping a play on their own one to get the ball back on downs, and on the next play, Hill found a hole, and sprinted out 99 yards for a touchdown, then added another two-point run to give Althoff a 51-19 lead. Logan Thompson finished off the game late with a spectacular 66-yard run down the near sideline to make the final score 58-19.
The Crusaders meet Lena-Winslow for the state championship next Friday morning at 10 a.m., in the first championship game of the weekend at Hancock Stadium.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
