The Collinsville High School boys soccer team’s defense gave away three goals to O’Fallon on Tuesday and could not muster enough offense of their own, in a 3-0 defeat to their conference foe.

Junior defender Brendan Rosenburg fights two O’Fallon panthers for the ball / Photo by Roger Starky

The Kahoks (1-1 Southwestern Conference, 2-3-1 overall) started the game with passion and desire, Head Coach Myles Hensler said, but something changed when the officials called for a water break. According to Illinois High School Association rules, the officials can call for water breaks when there is extreme heat. The temperature in the O’Fallon area worked its way up to 98 on the day.

After the timeout, the Kahoks were flat, but the Panthers (1-1 Southwestern Conference, 2-4 overall) maintained their intensity. O’Fallon scored the only goal they would need on the Kahoks’ first major mistake, with 13 minutes and 41 seconds remaining in the first half. Collinsville gave the ball away in front of their own net and O’Fallon senior midfielder Andrew Derby was left wide open on freshman goalkeeper Brett Neidzwiecki, who never stood a chance.

The Panthers increased their lead to 2-0 on a penalty kick by sophomore defender Jake Koenig.

Hensler called the foul leading to the penalty kick, soft. “It seems the refs are prone to call PKs this year where they weren’t in the past,” Hensler said. “It was a soft call for a conference game.”

After the penalty kick, Hensler put Collinsville in a new formation. The gamble did not pay off. O’Fallon scored again with 17:40 remaining to finalize the scoring.

Koenig scored the final goal when the ball rolled in front of the net and through three Kahoks defenders before finding Koenig’s left foot. He tapped the ball into the goal past a scrambling Neidzwiecki.

Collinsville next plays at Triad (6-0), Saturday at 6:45.