11/05/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARTERVILLE - The Carterville Lions have scored a bunch of points during this undefeated season but Coach Brett Diel's club also plays staunch defense.

During Saturday's home 4A second round playoff game against Coal City, the Lions' 'dialed' up the 'D' in a 22-0 shutout.

Carterville allowed only 104-yards of total offense and the offense took advantage of the field position that its defense maintained as they improved to 11-0 for the first time since 2014.

Diel, a Carterville grad who is now 34-13 in his fifth season at the helm, has his team in the quarterfinals after the dominating victory.

Although it was a gusty, windy day in southern Illinois on Saturday, Carterville senior quarterback Andrew Hellriegel hit for 16-of-31 passing attempts for 178-yards.

Senior tailback Bryce Smith, the workhorse of the Lions' offense, rushed 22-times for 59-yards and all three of the Carterville touchdowns.

But if you want to point to a game changer for the game it was 5-7 senior wide receiver Peyton Bittle.

Bittle caught seven of the Hellriegel passes for 119-yards, including three catches for over 20-yards each.

A 24-yard pass from Hellriegel, where Bittle outfought a Coal City defender that was ruled a completion at the six-yard line, set up the first Smith touchdown run.

Coal City saw its season come to a close at 7-4.

Quarterback Braden Reilly was just 7-of-19 passing for the game for 53-yards with an interception.

Carterville held the Coalers to just 37-yards on the ground with running backs sophomore Landin Benson going for 19-yards on 13-attempts and junior Gavin Carpenter having six carries for 18-yards.

The Lions will host Rochester next Saturday afternoon at 1:30 pm.

The Rockets (10-1) dominated Breese Central 42-0 on Saturday to advance.

Rochester held Central to just 209-yards of total offense and the hosts scored the first six times they had the ball to force a continuous clock in the third quarter.

Keeton Reiss threw for 206-yards on 12-of-16 three touchdowns for the Rockets.

Breese Central saw its season end at 8-3.

Conner Freeze led the Cougars with 73-yards on 22-attempts while completing just 11-of-27 passes for a mere 130-yards.

Murphysboro 20, Macomb 16
The Red Devils rallied from 16-points down at halftime to stun the Bombers to move into the quarterfinals of the 4A playoffs.

Devon Clemons rushed for 182-yards on 32-attempts, including three touchdowns as Murphysboro advanced to play Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin on the road next Saturday.

Clemons scored on a 55-yard run with under two minutes left to give his team the victory.

SHG rallied to beat Waterloo on Saturday and will host the Red Devils next Saturday at 2 pm.

3A Playoffs
Prairie Central 41, Roxana 20
The Shells, after a big playoff win last week at Hillsboro, hosted the top seed in the southern quadrant and discovered just how good the Hawks are.

Coach Wade DeVries wanted a shot at Prairie Central and he got it.

Unfortunately the Hawks were just too good as they improved to 11-0 with the win.

Sophomore Hudson Ault and senior Drew Haberkorn combined for 262-yards, 136-each, on the ground as part of a 388-yard day rushing for Prairie Central.

Roxana stayed close, scoring in the first quarter and being tied at 13-all in the second quarter before PC scored just before the half for a 20-13 lead.

Junior running back Evan Wells and classmate Terrel Graves topped the Shells with 80 and 76 yards respectively on the day while junior quarterback Chris Walleck was just 2-of-9 passing for 25-yards and an interception.

Senior Nik Ward threw a halfback option pass for 34-yards and he rushed 10-times for just 15-yards.

Sophomore Andruw Ellis caught two passes, including the lone Walleck TD pass for 48-yards total.

Down just 26-20 after a Graves touchdown run, Roxana tried an onside kick that failed.

The Hawks scored on their first play as Ault went 50-yards for a TD.

Prairie Central added a late Haberkorn as they advanced to host 10-1 Tolono Unity, a 35-14 winner at home over Mount Carmel on Saturday.

Roxana ended its season at 7-4.

Tolono Unity 35, Mount Carmel 14
The Aces season came to a halt on the same field as it did last season.

Coach Michael Brewer's club fell to the Rockets last fall 28-21 in the semifinals.

This season it wasn't as close.

Blayne Sisson, Mount Carmel junior quarterback, led the Aces with 88-yards rushing on 19-carries on a windy day.

Passing he was just 4-of-10 for 15-yards and a pair of interceptions.

Asher Kight added 36-yards rushing on 11-tries for Mount Carmel.

Matt Brown, a 6-2 senior running back, led the Rockets with 190-yards on 24-rushes and three TD's.

1A Playoffs
Camp Point Central 24, Sesser-Valier/Waltonville 0
The Panthers improved to 11-0 with the shutout over the Red Devils on Saturday afternoon.

The telling stat for the hosts was time of possession as CPC kept the ball away from SVW by a large margin.

Of the 48 minutes of game time Camp Point Central had the ball 32:15.

Although they were held well below their 45.1 points per game average, the Panthers advanced.

Sesser-Valier/Waltonville ended their season at 8-3.

CPC gained 349-yards on the ground on 59-attempts while racking up 18 first downs compared to just five for Sesser-Valier/Waltonville.

Six-three senior running back Isaac Genenbacher rushed for three touchdowns on the day, with 15-carries for 113-yards.

Senior Ross Riley added 12-rushes for 75-yards and junior Conner Griffin added 18-attempts for 98-yards.

Junior Drew Paben scored the other Panther TD and ended up with five runs for 37-yards.

Quarterback Nick Moore was just 4-of-10 for 28-yards passing but he ran the ball three times for 11.

Genebacher (2) and seniors Carter Eyler and Josh Alford caught the Moore passes in the win.

CPC will play Greenfield/Northwestern next Saturday at home.

The Tigers (10-1) shut out Cumberland at home on Saturday 26-0.

2A Playoffs
Johnston City 28, Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond 8
The Indians took advantage of a coin toss and an injury to the Knights top player to make school history on Saturday.

Coach Todd Thomas and his Tribe are now 11-0 for the first time a Johnston City football team history.

On a windy day at Arthur, the Indians won took the wind at their backs and proceeded to score 14 first quarter points on a pair of runs by Boston Peyton and Isiah Watson.

Watson topped the rushing charts for Johnston City with 210-yards on 20-carries.

That total includes a 70-yard touchdown and scores from 10 and 35.

Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond saw its season end at 8-3.

The Knights suffered a loss on their first play from scrimmage as 6-3 senior quarter Kaden Feagin was helped off of the field with a leg injury.

He didn't return and without their soon to be University of Illinois signee, ALAH struggled.

Backup quarterback senior Noah Garrett ended up 4-of-10 for 75-yards and the only TD for the Knights and he rushed for 55-yards a on 16-carries.

Junior running back Landon Waldrop rushed 11-times for 23-yard and senior tight end Drew Cotton caught one pass, the 13-yard TD from Garrett.

The Indians became the first Black Diamond Conference team to win a second round playoff game since Chester in 2014.

2A Playoffs
Belleville Althoff 26, Red Bud 14
The Musketeers rallied to take a 14-13 fourth quarter lead with just over five minutes left on a pair of interception returns for touchdowns by Sam Easter (55-yards) and Lucas Schwartzkopf (22-yards).

However the Crusaders took back the lead with Jordan Lewis scoring on a 27-yard pass from Braylon Grayson with 3:21 left.

Another interception return for a touchdown, this time by Lewis, sealed the win for Althoff who now advances to play 11-0 Johnston City next Saturday at 4 pm.

Red Bud ends their season at 8-3.

The Crusaders (7-4) got into the playoffs at 5-4 with one of their victories being a forfeit by Mount Vernon after the Rams inadvertently used an ineligible player in their win over Althoff.