Collinsville’s only win last year came at the expense of Granite City, who did not win a game all season. Both teams head into Friday’s contest having already earned a victory, but looking for their first conference win.
Each team features two of the top 10 rushers in the Southwestern Conference, making it a solid bet that neither quarterback will have a sore throwing arm after the contest. The visiting Warriors (1-2 overall, 0-1 SWC), are led by sophomore running back Willie Beckwith, who is 5th in the league with 300 yards. He has a 3.9 yards per carry average.
Senior wide receiver Quinton Jackson’s 262 yards are second best for Granite City and 9th best in the conference. Jackson averages 11.4 yards per carry.
When the Kahoks (1-2 overall, 0-1 SWC), run the ball, they rely heavily on junior fullback Jordan Miller, who totes the rock for an average of 5.6 yards. His 284 rushing yards are good for 6th in the conference. Junior Jamal Wellmaker’s 278 yards places him 6th in rushing yards. He averages 6.6 yards per carry,
The Kahoks first priority on defense is to stop Beckwith, Head Coach John Blaylock said. “I know that Carl (Granite City Head Coach Carl Luehmann) will jam it down our throats if we don’t stop the run,” Blaylock said. The Collinsville coach should know Leuhmann’s tendencies; they have known each other since they were both coaches for the 1991 Kahoks freshman team.
Blaylock hopes his team will have more success against a Granite City defense giving up 35 points per game than they did last week against Belleville East, who leads the conference with 10 points allowed per game. The team focused on cleaning up their play this week, including improving on the offensive line.
“We need to give our quarterback more time,” Blaylock said. “If we can clean things up, we can have a wider playbook.” Senior quarterback Connor Zabala has the fewest (25) attempts of any quarterback in the conference.
The Kahoks schedule only gets more difficult after this week. Four of their next five opponents are ranked in the Associated Press’ top 10 in the state. Alton is the only unranked team remaining on Collinsville’s schedule.
Kick off is at 7 p.m. Friday at Kahok Stadium. The game will be streamed live at kahoksports.com.
