Collinsville High School overcame 15 penalties and a fumble return for a touchdown to give John Blaylock his first win as the Kahoks head coach, a 24-14 win over Triad.
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The Kahoks (1-1) had two touchdowns called back by penalties and jumped offside late in the fourth quarter on a fourth down play that gave Triad a first down. The Knights (0-2) took advantage of the mistake, scoring a touchdown with 34 seconds left to make the score17-14.
“Not pleased about the penalties tonight, not pleased at all,” Blaylock said. “I will go back and evaluate them. An aggressive penalty is far different than a stupid penalty.”
The Kahoks defense led the way in the defeat of Triad Friday night at Kahok Stadium. Collinsville held the Knights to 150 rushing yards, zero passing yards and only the late score in the second half. Triad rushed for 363 yards last week.
“Our defense played lights out football tonight,” Blaylock said. “They did everything we asked them to do.”
Collinsville never allowed the Knights’ senior quarterback Jason Barbour to get untracked. Barbour had eight carries for -2 yards Friday after rushing for 194 yards on 23 carries against Mattoon to open the season
Stopping Barbour was one area the Kahoks focused on, Blaylock said. “We felt like there was a reason they were riding that horse that first game,” Blaylock said. “My philosophy as a coach has always been that you want to force guys to do things that they apparently don’t want to do.”
Triad struck first against Collinsville, when sophomore defensive back Josiah Pottorff scooped up a botched bubble screen and returned it 60 yards for the touchdown. The pass from senior quarterback Connor Zabala was ruled a lateral and fumble.
Collinsville came right back and knotted the score at seven when junior Jamal Wellmaker scored from 11 yards out. Triad promptly turned the ball over on their next position when sophomore free-safety Max Lyons intercepted a Barbour pass. The Kahoks added a short field goal to have 10-7 lead heading into the half.
The Kahoks made it three straight scoring possessions when Zabala and Miller combined to run though the Triad defense on the opening drive of the second half. Zabala’s 5-yard keeper increased the lead to 17-7. Miller and Zabala received the majority of the carries in the second half because the Knights were aggressively playing the outside run, Blaylock said.
Barbour was taken off the field with an injury in the fourth quarter and replaced by junior Alex Crehan, who promptly led Triad on a scoring drive to pull them within three points with 34 seconds remaining. An attempted onside kick was returned 53 yards for a touchdown by Wellmaker to salt the game away for the Kahoks.
Collinsville plays Friday at 7 p.m. at Belleville East. The game will be streamed live on kahoksports.com
