Madison County notebook: Collinsville tops Granite City for first win of season
It took five weeks longer than coach Mike Liljegren anticipated, but the Collinsville football team finally earned its first victory.
The host Kahoks outscored Granite City 13-0 in the second half Friday to beat the Warriors 27-15. Collinsville improved to 1-5 overall and 1-3 in the Southwestern Conference while Granite City dropped to 0-6 and 0-4.
“It’s a great feeling and the hard work of the kids is paying off,” Liljegren said. “It’s a little later in the season than I would like it to be, but it doesn’t diminish their effort.”
Thanks to a Granite City fumble on the opening kickoff, the Kahoks took a 7-0 lead 14 seconds into the game on a 31-yard pass from Connor Zabala to Falando Wilkinson. A 43-yard run by Kennedy Mayweather, plus the extra point by Josh Calvin, made the score 14-0 before Granite City scored on a safety with 2:06 remaining in the quarter.
Granite City got within 13-8 on a 68-yard interception return by Quinetin Jackson with 11:32 to play in the second quarter. With 7:13 left in the quarter, Jackson caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Jake Daily, and Brian Nemsky’s extra point put the Warriors ahead 15-14 at halftime.
Another Granite City fumble, this one on a punt return, set up Collinsville’s third touchdown, a 16-yard pass from Zabaka to Karnealus Walker with 10:28 remaining in the third quarter. A two-point conversion attempt failed, but the Kahoks led 20-15.
Collinsville closed out the scoring on a 53-yard run by Wilkinson with 1:36 left in the fourth quarter.
“We played well in every aspect of the game,” Liljegren said. “We completed two touchdown passes and rushed for two more and we ran for over 200 yards.
“Defensively, we tackled way better than we had been doing. No. 42 (Devin Narvaez) is a heck of a player, but we didn’t let him in the end zone.
“We had a goal-line stand in the second quarter, and they were in the red zone in the fourth quarter and we stopped them again. Our special teams also came up with the two turnovers that we were able to convert into touchdowns.”
Mayweather had 14 carries for 95 yards while Wilkinson had 68 yards on five carries. Zabala completed 7 of 16 passes for 93 yards with two interceptions to go along with the pair of touchdown passes.
“We want to build on this and keep doing things right,” Liljegren said. “We had two tough opponents before this (a 42-0 loss to Belleville West and a 44-7 loss to East St. Louis), but overall we continue to improve.”
The Kahoks return to action at 7 p.m. Friday at O’Fallon. The Panthers (5-1, 3-1) are coming off a 34-21 loss to East St. Louis that dropped them out of a first-place tie with the Flyers.
“O’Fallon is very athletic and their quarterback (Todd Porter) throws the ball very well,” Liljegren said. “They have a freshman running back (Kentrail Moran) who is also very good. Their defense comes at you with a physical, aggressive front.
“Our confidence level is definitely higher after coming out on top last week. We played well enough in our first three games to win them and we weren’t able to do it, but finally getting that victory makes a huge difference.”
Granite City, which also led O’Fallon at halftime before losing 35-19 on Sept. 21, is still seeking that elusive first win.
“The beginning of the game getting behind 14-0 was not a good start,” Granite City coach Carl Luehmann said. “If you take that away, we played a solid game except for a couple of mistakes. It was a good effort by our players to come back after that start.
“They came out ready to play and it took us a few minutes to get going. I told the kids Collinsville is not going to lie down for us. They were prepared for us.”
The Warriors’ running game looked strong, with Narvaez getting 113 yards on 18 carries and Austin Cuthrell picking up 94 yards on 22 carries. Daily completed 12 of 27 passes for 102 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
“We did some good things on offense but had too many missed assignments,” Luehmann said. “The passing game was not up to par like it was in the O’Fallon game. They made some adjustments to our passing game and we had trouble with it.
“Our defense played well except for some breakdowns in coverage. Some young kids are getting some experience and there are some growing pains we have to deal with. We hope they learn and get better each game.”
Granite plays host to East St. Louis (4-2, 4-0) in the homecoming game at 7 p.m. Friday.
“Our team has gotten better each week,” Luehmann said. Devin Narvaez has had two big games in a row and has been a leader that we expect out of him. He has provided leadership and helped the players with their confidence. The players are upbeat for homecoming this week.
“We will coach just like any other week. We do what it takes to put our players in a position to win games and you can tell the kids are buying into it and being coachable.”