BELLEVILLE – In a night filled with nostalgia and great memories, Belleville Althoff Catholic running back Dierre Hill, Jr. provided the best set of memories of all.Hill, who’s bound for the University of Oregon next fall, and is one of the St. Louis area’s top players, ran for 318 yards and four long touchdown runs as the Crusaders won over Belleville East 49-21 in the teams’ first meeting since 1995 at venerable Belleville Township Stadium Friday night.
The venue, one of the most famous high school stadiums in the St Louis area, is on the old campus of Belleville West High School, and is now a campus for Southwestern Illinois College, after having been used by Lindenwood University of St. Charles, Mo. One full side of the stands has been torn down, a new turf field has been installed, a red and gray turf field has been replaced, and new bleachers have been installed at the old stadium.
The atmosphere was a very special one, indeed. And one of the quirks made a comeback, when a train, blowing its horns, passed by in the final 30 seconds, holding up play briefly. It was one of the great features of the stadium, where played would be delayed by passing trains on the tracks next to the field, behind one set of stands.
It was a very special game, and the coaches of both teams felt it.
“We’re happy with the result,” said Crusaders coach Austin Frazier. “I think we’re happy with the win, going against a big school. We’ve got some great film to be able to teach from, because Belleville East is a good squad. I expect them to continue to do continue to do things in the Southwestern Conference, make the playoffs. It’s really fun, you’ve got, your old Township Stadium, with all the nostalgia, everything surrounding it. It turned out to be a perfect night for us.”
Everyone was amused and thrilled when the train passed by in the final 30 seconds, holding up the game momentarily.
“I can remember when, as a spectator, a little kid,” Frazier said, “and then, as a player, to having those trains come by and hammer the horn. That was the perfect fourth-quarter exit.”
Althoff has many other good players besides Hill, and the plan was to give the faster players the space they needed to create plays.
“Well, we have some good players,” Frazier said. “We want to get our offense, our fast players some space. Dierre Hill certainly got us, he showed that ability. Defensively, we had some misfits, and some execution issues in the first quarter, and through the second half, I was proud to fix some of those things, I think we shut them out those last 33 minutes. But you don’t get better by not playing great opponents, and East is a great opponent. We’re happy we could make the game work.
As for the rest of the season, Frazier is taking things one game at a time.
“Well, we’re going to do our film work tomorrow,” Frazier said, “we have a little rehab session, and we’re on to Tolono Unity. We’ve got a two-and-a-half hour drive up near Champaign with a good opponent there. So, we’ll just do it day by day. I’m feeling confident that we will address how we can get better on Saturday.”
The first half was an explosive one, where the two teams traded touchdowns in the opening 90 seconds, and the Lancers tried to match the Crusaders score-for-score. In the end, Althoff was able to pull away. And in the first half, the fans definitely got their money’s worth of excitement
“Oh, for sure,” said East head coach Michael Harrison “It was billed as the biggest show in town, and it definitely was tonight. Obviously, we came out on the wrong side of it, but it was a good contest, and something I hope we can continue doing. I think it’s good for the city of Belleville, good for the area, and again, I’d love to come out on top, but it was a good atmosphere tonight.”
Coach Harrison got a kick out of the train delay as well.
“It wouldn’t be a game at Township Stadium if we didn’t have a train come across during the game,” Harrison said with a smile and chuckle. “So, yeah, it gave us a little nostalgia, there, Pretty cool atmosphere, again. Obviously, we wish we came out on top tonight, but all-in-all, a good night.”
The Lancers did have many good things happen during the game as well. Missed chances came back to haunt the Lancers as the game went on.
“For sure,” Harrison said. “We played, in the first half, on the offensive side of the ball, we executed some things. Again, we came into it with what we thought was a good game plan, and we just missed some big play opportunities that we didn’t hit on. And again, I think that was the difference in the score in the first half. Again, we were trying to go score or score with them for a little while, and then (Hill) showed you why he’s the best player in the state and a Division-I recruit.”
Hill is definitely one of the best players in the area, let alone the state of Illinois, and East had its hands full with him.
“I was just talking with another coach,” Harrison said. “I mean, obviously, we had Luther Burden (of East St Louis, now playing for Missouri) a little while ago, But again, he’s a different type of player, but, I mean, he’s (Hill) up there with the great guys we’ve had come through the area, Terry Hawthorne, Luther Burden, and those types of guys, He changes the game by himself.”
The Lancers now enter Southwestern Conference play next week, and it’s something Harrison always looks forward to.
“Again, in the Southwestern Conference, we love it, because that’s what makes it great, right?” Harrison said. “That’s what makes high school football fun. But, yeah, in that Southwestern Conference, there are no easy victories. Now, we get to go into the conference, and we’ve got our work cut out for us. They’re all interesting, and just another night in the Southwestern Conference,” Harrison said with a big smile.
“Again, hats off to Althoff and SWIC for giving us this opportunity to play here Again, it was a great crowd, a great atmosphere. Again, Coach Frazier and that team is going to be a handful in Class 1A and 2A in the playoffs I don’t know if I’ve seen another running back in high school that is better than that. So, it’ll be an interesting deal. I hope those guys go on and win a state championship for the area, and then, we’ve got to get ready for the Southwestern Conference.”
The Lancers got off to a big start, when on the second play from scrimmage, Jaedon Beamon took a handoff, and ran 55 yards up the right side to put East ahead 7-0 after only 48 seconds. The Crusaders countered on the ensuing kickoff, when Steven Brown, who also had a very good game himself, took the ball and went 88 yards up the middle for the first Althoff touchdown. The kick was blocked, however, and the Lancers held a 7-6 lead.
On the next Althoff possession, the Crusaders took the lead when quarterback Jayden Ellington found Drake Mosley for a 27-yard touchdown pass that put Althoff up 13-7. The Lancers took back the lead shortly after, climaxing a sustained drive with a five-yard touchdown run on fourth down by Kingston Jones to go back in front 14-13. Hill then went on a pair of scintillating runs on the next two Crusader possessions, going 56 and 85 yards each to put Althoff back in front for good 28-14.
Later on, Jones found Xavier Moody from 20 yards out to cut the lead to 28-21 in the second quarter, but after that, it was all Crusaders, as Hill ran in from 55 yards, and Ellington went in from eight yards to give Althoff a 42-21 lead at the end of a very exciting and entertaining first half. Hill had 291 yards rushing in the first half and three touchdowns.
In a mostly defensive second half, Hill struck again in the third, climaxing a drive with an 18-yard touchdown run late to make the final score 49-21. The train that came through, along with a cloudburst at three-quarter time were the perfect finishing touches on a perfect night for football.
The Crusaders are now 3-0, and play at Tolono Unity next Friday at 7 pm., while the Lancers are now 2-1, and begin conference play next Saturday afternoon at home against East St. Louis in a 1 p.m. kickoff.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
