BLOOMINGTON-NORMAL – Senior back Ronnie Gomiller scored four touchdowns, three in the final quarter, while quarterback Reece Shanklin threw for two touchdowns as East St. Louis opened its football season with a come-from-behind 42-23 win over defending IHSA Class 8A champion Chicago Mt. Carmel Catholic Saturday night at Illinois State University’s Hancock Stadium in Bloomington-Normal.
The Flyers are aiming to return to the site on Thanksgiving weekend for the IHSA football playoff finals Nov. 27-28. East St. Louis lost in the Class 6A finals Dec. 2 after the game was postponed from its original date of Nov. 29, due to the threat of a snowstorm in the area.
The Flyers scored first on 16-yard touchdown pass from Shanklin to Gomiller with 1:30 left in the quarter to give East Side a 6-0 lead after the conversion was missed. The Caravan took the lead late in the first half when Marshaun Thornton took a 30-yard pass from Brady Cloherty, then kicked the point after to take a 7-6 halftime lead.
With exactly eight minutes left in the third quarter, Shanklin threw 20 yards to Laron Baker, Jr., then scored on a two-point run to give East St. Louis the lead back at 14-7. Mt. Carmel then exploded for 16 points in 1:45, first on a 38-yard touchdown pass from Cloherty to Thornton with 3:30 left to tie the game 14-14, then scored on a safety with 1:50 to go in the third to take a 16-14 lead, then on the ensuing free kick, Thornton returned the kick 65 yards for another touchdown with 1:45 left in the third to extend the Caravan’s lead to 23-14.
East St. Louis then went off for 28 unanswered points in the fourth, as Gomiller scored twice in 46 seconds on runs of 14 and eight yards to give the Flyers the lead back at 28-23, then scored again on a 20-yard run with 3:57 to go take the Flyers into a bigger lead at 35-23. Raheem Floyd put the icing on the cake with a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown with 2:56 to go to make the final score 42-23.
Mt. Carmel starts the season off 0-1, and plays at St. Joseph’s Regional of Montvale. N.J. next Friday night at 6 p.m. Central time, while East Side opens at 1-0, and goes to American Heritage of Plantation, Fla. on Friday night in a 6 p.m. Central time kickoff.
