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Football: East St Louis overwhelms Oswego
Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: November 5, 2011 10:21PM
Ryan West was under siege.
A swarming East St. Louis defense led by linebackers Markese Jackson and Jeremy Rives helped force turnovers on the first four Oswego possessions in Saturday’s Class 7A playoff game and paved the way for the Flyers’ 41-0 rout of the Panthers.
“They were fast, they were physical and they basically outplayed us, outsmarted us,” said West, Oswego’s senior quarterback who has a pair of Division I scholarship offers from Southern Illinois and Central Michigan. “We just didn’t make the adjustments we needed to in order to get a win tonight.”
West completed just 13 of 40 passes and was intercepted three times. He finished with 129 yards, but didn’t top the century mark until hooking up with Jack Kwiatkowski (7 catches, 99 yards) for a 46-yarder in the closing seconds after a running clock started following the Flyers’ sixth score.
“They’re fast to the football,” Oswego coach Dave Keely said of the defense for the 9-2 visitors. “Even their defensive line was fast and we didn’t have an answer for that. We even put extra backs in the backfield and couldn’t give Ryan time to throw. They had pretty good coverage, too.
“Ryan took a lot of hits, some of them maybe not in the most timely fashion, either.”
West was sacked three times and twice the Flyers were flagged for roughing the passer.
Oswego (8-3) opened the game in great shape with an early defensive stand and short Flyers’ punt giving the offense a start on the visitors’ 25-yard-line. They lost the ball on a Mickeel Stewart fumble on the second play, and East St. Louis was off to the races and a home date next week with Wheaton Warrenville South.
Powered by the running of senior Jeremy Nicholson (17-169, 2 TDs) and freshman Natereace Strong (13-146, 1 TD), the visitors piled up 353 rushing yards. Combined with 132 passing yards from senior quarterback Lamontiez Ivy (9-16-132, 2 TDs), East St. Louis piled up a 485-154 advantage in total yards.
Ivy hooked up with Tamji Jackson on a 45-yard scoring pass into a strong wind out of the south. Teddy Jenkins returned an interception 45 yards for a score and Nicholson scored on a 15-yard run to stake the visitors to a 20-0 lead at halftime.
It could have been a much bigger margin, but the Flyers had four long runs — three of them for TDs — brought back by four of their seven holding penalties in the half. They were flagged 10 times in the first half for 87 yards and nine more for another 91 in the second half.
“It could have been a lot bigger lead (at halftime),” East St. Louis coach Darren Sunkett said. “Holding call, it’s a judgement call. I can’t argue that. You’ve just gotta keep playing.”
Oswego was flagged just five times for 25 yards but one of them early in the third quarter hurt the Panthers’ chances of getting back in the game.
West hooked up with wideout Elliot McGaughy on a go route that went for 75 yards and a score on the first play of the second half, but it came back due to an illegal motion penalty on the Panthers.
“The penalties affected both teams as far as getting momentum going,” Keely said. “If we get that score we might have been back in the thick of things. We just never could get in the flow.”
His team drove to the Flyers’ 29 but turned the ball over on downs and Strong answered on the very next play, bolting 71 yards for a back-breaking score.
Ivy would hook up with Terry Hubert on a 54-yard scoring pass and Nicholson second TD run (6 yards) capped the scoring.
“I’m really proud of the kids,” said Keely, who is retiring after this season. “They could have packed it in after Game 2 (and an 0-2 start) but chose not to. They showed great character and played with their hearts and their heads (to win eight straight before Saturday’s finale).”
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