COLLINSVILLE – Belleville East held a 16-15 halftime lead, but scored twice in the second half to take a 30-15 season opening win over Collinsville Friday night at Kahok Stadium.
It’s the third year in a row that the Lancers defeated the Kahoks to start the season, and East was able to take advantage of a fast start and hold off the Kahoks, especially in the second half.
The Lancers drew first blood in the first quarter, when Jaedon Beamon scored from two yards out, set up by a James Johnson, Jr. catch of a bomb thrown by quarterback Kingston Jones. The Beamon touchdown run gave East a 7-0 lead.
It became 9-0 after the Lancer defense tackled a Kahok player in his own end zone for a safety, but Loyal Patterson took a punt back 66 yards for the first Collinsville touchdown to make it 9-7 late in the first quarter.
The Kahoks recovered an onside kick after the Patterson touchdown, and went ahead on the ensuing drive, Chase Reynolds went in from a yard out eight minutes from halftime, and Rome Richardson went in for a two-point convert to give Collinsville the lead at 15-9.
Beamon scored his second touchdown of the game on a seven-yard run with about four minutes left in the first half, with the convert giving East the lead back at 16-15, where the score stood at the half. In the second half, Jones hit Johnson with a 19-yard touchdown pass with four minutes left in the third to expand the Lancer lead to 23-15, and early in the fourth quarter, Machai Henderson ran in from 13 yards, with the extra point giving the Lancers the 30-15 win.
Collinsville had a long drive in the fourth quarter, but turned the ball over on downs on the Lancer five yard line, and from there, East ran out the clock to preserve the win.
East starts the season 1-0 and hosts Pekin at Charles Woodford Field in the home opener next Friday, while the Kahoks start out at 0-1, and host Centralia in week two. Both games start at 7 p.m.
