By Nathan Grimm | Pictures by Ricky Slaughter
CHAMPAIGN – It was a triple-option workforce that denied East St. Louis their tenth state championship title final November.
On Saturday, the fashion was comparable. The outcome was not.
Illinois single-season dashing report holder Tyler Vasey and Prairie Ridge had been no match for the Flyers, who rode a potent dashing assault of their very own to a snug 57-7 victory in Saturday’s Illinois Class 6A state championship recreation at Memorial Stadium in Champaign.
The highest-ranked workforce within the SBLive Illinois Energy 25 rankings, East St. Louis confirmed why, dashing for 358 yards and 6 touchdowns and throwing for 207 yards and two extra scores within the win.
“I promised that,” Flyers senior offensive lineman Miles McVay, an Alabama commit, stated of his workforce faring higher this 12 months than of their disappointing 37-36 loss to Cary-Grove a 12 months in the past. “I reside as much as my guarantees.”
The sport began nicely for the Wolves, who obtained the opening kickoff and drove the size of the sphere for an early landing. The senior quarterback Vasey, who set a state report along with his 3,776 dashing yards coming into the sport, led the cost on the drive, finally scampering into the top zone on a 14-yard run to place the Wolves forward 7-0.
East St. Louis (12-2) took over from there, scoring on eight consecutive possessions to run away from Prairie Ridge. Sophomore working again TaRyan Martin led the best way with 174 dashing yards and three touchdowns, and Robert “Pops” Battle, Christopher Bennett Jr. and Illinois commit Antwon Hayden additionally had dashing touchdowns within the recreation.
Battle was named Participant of the Recreation for his efficiency, finishing 10 of 12 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns alongside along with his 63 yards and a rating on the bottom.
“It is an ideal feeling,” East St. Louis coach Darren Sunkett stated. “We set this objective final 12 months after our loss within the state championship recreation. The fellows got here out from January till June working their butts off, hitting the weights, working, doing these sorts of issues. We had nice management, and people guys knew what it took to get again right here. I assumed as soon as we acquired right here, we did an ideal job.”
The offensive efficiency the headline, however the Flyers protection additionally discovered a strategy to cease a Prairie Ridge dashing assault that racked up 5,181 yards on their strategy to the state title recreation. The Wolves completed with 152 dashing yards, 39 of which got here within the opening drive.
After Cary-Grove ran for 386 yards in final 12 months’s championship recreation, Sunkett stated proving they might cease a triple-option offense was a excessive precedence for the Flyers defensive unit.
“The protection, they nonetheless felt dangerous from final 12 months,” Sunkett stated. “With every headline, they learn, ‘Can we cease the triple-option?’ That is all we heard from the time we misplaced the state championship recreation final 12 months up till this week. So, we actually felt like we had one thing to show this 12 months, that we truly may.”
Prairie Ridge (12-2) got here into the sport ranked No. 6 within the SBLive Illinois Energy 25 on the again of their working recreation. It was an offense that took all of them the best way to the title match, however the Flyers’ measurement and athleticism posed a special type of problem for the Wolves.
“When you concentrate on again the place we had been in the summertime, I didn’t … I advised these guys, I didn’t anticipate us to wind up right here,” Prairie Ridge coach Chris Schremp stated. “This can be a group of youngsters that simply acquired so significantly better week after week after week, simply stored plugging away. To finish up right here, I am extraordinarily pleased with these guys. Tyler Vasey, the season that he is had has simply been superb. I simply cannot say sufficient about our group of fellows, of the exhausting work, the work ethic that they confirmed day by day. Simply stored plugging away, attempting to get somewhat bit higher.
“Expertise-wise, we clearly met our match. The coin toss was nearly comical if you happen to noticed the scale distinction. You’ll be able to’t match up with that expertise.”
Having made it to the state playoffs for 3 consecutive seasons and now with the championship trophy returning to East St. Louis for a tenth time, Sunkett was requested what, if something, he has left to show at the highschool teaching stage.
“Win one other 14 video games subsequent 12 months?” he responded. “It all the time feels good to win.
“Each time you step on the sphere, there’s one thing to finish. Each time you are with these younger males, there’s one thing good. Our coaches, we have a look at ourselves as mentors to those younger guys developing. So, every day, there’s undoubtedly one thing to perform once you’re mentoring the younger males that we have now in our soccer program.”
