West's second half beats Granite City
Warriors held scoreless after 15-15 tie, fall 29-15
smarion@yourjournal.com
After a strong finish to the 2007 season, Belleville West football coach Ric Johns hoped the momentum would carry over into 2008.Three games into his second year with the Maroons, he hasn't been disappointed.
West scored the only two touchdowns of the second half and posted a 29-15 Southwestern Conference victory Friday at Granite City. The Maroons improved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in league play.
"It was a big win," said Johns, whose team has won six in a row dating back to the final three games of last season. "We overcame adversity, but we could have done a lot of things better too.
"It's really nice to see the offense hold up their end tonight. Last week (a 26-23 win over Althoff on Sept. 5) our defense really carried us, but this week our offense played well as well."
It was the first loss of the year for Granite City, which dropped to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the SWC.
"If you can't stop the run, it's going to be a long night," said J.D. Lorton, the Warriors' first-year head coach. "They had 38 plays to our eight in the first half and we had a lot of mental mistakes and just too many times putting the ball on the turf. I thought we did some things well, but they're a good football team and you can't make mistakes like that."
West took the opening and went on a 17-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jodecci Mack with 5:11 remaining in the first quarter. The extra-point attempt was no good.
Granite City responded in dramatic fashion as Troy Fox ran 80 yards for a touchdown on the kickoff return after getting the ball on a reverse from teammate Gary Dudek. The two-point conversion run by quarterback Lavonce James gave the Warriors an 8-6 lead.
Belleville West regained the lead on a 5-yard run by Jarvis Patterson with 8:17 to play in the second quarter, but another failed extra point left the score at 12-8. A 30-yard field goal by Kent Kobernus boosted the Maroons' lead to 15-8 with 1:24 remaining.
"Early on we had two three-and-outs," Lorton said. "We had two option plays where we made the wrong read and kept the ball. If we pitch it, it's a touchdown and we have the edge. If you let a defense pack in on you like that and starting flying around, it's hard to dig it out.
"They controlled the ball and we didn't. They made the plays when they needed to and we didn't and we got ourselves behind the 8-ball. There were two or three possessions where they we had turnovers inside our own 30 and they only got one touchdown out of that.
"We're going to be alright, but it was not a good effort by the Granite City Warriors tonight. We'll get things fixed."
One positive moment for Granite City came with 14 seconds left in the second quarter, as Dudek connected with Ryan Schooley for a 31-yard touchdown on a halfback option pass.
Bryan Towery's extra point tied the halftime score at 15-15.
In the third quarter, a fumble recovery by Christian Vaughn led to Belleville West's third touchdown, a 2-yard run by Sean Lewis. The PAT by Kobernus made the score 22-15.
A fumble recovery by Bryan Hern, combined with a penalty against Granite City, gave West the ball on the Warriors' 9-yard line less than a minute later.
But fourth down and goal from the 4, Lewis was stopped for no gain by the Warriors' defense.
West extended its lead to 29-15 early in the fourth quarter, as Patterson caught a screen pass from Mack and ran 65 yards down the left sideline.
"I've got to tip my hat to them," Lorton said. "They outplayed us and they did things better than we did. We're going to have to come back tomorrow and see where we're at."
Lorton was the starting quarterback on Johns' 1992 team at Hardin Calhoun, which won the Class 1A state championship.
"It was nice to see J.D. on the other sideline," Johns said. "He's a got a lot of great years ahead of him, but tonight was just our night."
If there was a negative for the West coach Friday night, it involved the behavior of a few of his players, who taunted their opponents after the game.
"You don't want to put a tarnish on a great effort by all these kids on both sides," said Johns, who apologized to Lorton for the incident.
"In this program, we've got to know how to act. I was disappointed in the way it ended. It shouldn't have been like that and we'll correct it."
