Mistakes have been the doom of the Collinsville High School football team all year, as their 21-20 loss to Granite City Friday reminded their fans.
Watch Kahoks Sports at www.kahoksports.com
Touchdowns called back, penalties in critical situations and an ability to prolifically accumulate penalties have caused the rebuilding Kahoks (1-3 overall, 0-2 Southwestern Conference) to fight an uphill battle all season. First year head coach John Blaylock has put a focus on limiting mistakes, but the team has not yet converted their effort in practice to results on the field.
The Kahoks one point loss to SWC rival Granite City (2-2 overall, 1-1 SWC) Friday featured a fumble at the Kahoks’ 1-yard-line, an interception thrown into the end zone to kill a drive and a touchdown run called back on a Kahoks’ penalty.
The opening drive of the game appeared to portend good things for CHS. Junior running back Justin Wellmaker jumped on Granite City for a 32 yard-run and junior fullback Jordan Miller later punched the ball in from two yards to give the Kahoks a 7-0 lead. The lead lasted 20 seconds.
Senior wide receiver Quinton Jackson returned the ensuing kick-off 63 yards to the Collinsville 28. On the Warriors first play from scrimmage, Jackson sprinted into the end zone untouched. The point after attempt tied the score at seven.
Collinsville was undaunted by the quick response. They drove the ball downfield and scored with 2:32 to go in the first quarter when Wellmaker went around the right end, made one cut and proceeded untouched for an 18-yard-touchown and a 14-7 CHS lead.
An interception by senior linebacker Zach Mathes on the next drive was immediately wasted. The Kahoks committed two penalties before they were forced to punt from their own 12.
Granite City responded quickly, again. Sophomore running back Willie Beckwith did the bulk of the work to get the ball to the Kahoks’ 1 yard-line, where sophomore quarterback Gabe Jarrman scored on a keeper to knot the score at 14.
On the next kickoff, two members of the Kahoks’ return team kicked the ball around until it was recovered at the 4 yard-line by CHS. Senior quarterback Connor Zabala and Junior Jordon Miller then had a miscommunication on an attempted handoff and the ball was fumbled at the one. Beckwith ran it in on the next play to give Granite City a 21-14 lead.
The Kahoks drove downfield and into field goal range before Zabala threw a ball up for grabs in the end zone with 30 seconds remaining. Jackson grabbed the interception to kill the Collinsville drive.
After the half, Collinsville dominated in most areas of the game. They shutout the Warriors and held them to 55 yards of total offense. The Kahoks put together 113 total yards and two scoring drives in the half.
Unfortunately for Kahoks fans, they also dominated in turnovers. Collinsville gave it away twice. Granite City did not turn the ball over the in the second half.
More important than the second-half turnovers, Blaylock said, was a penalty that cost the Kahoks a touchdown.
“We scored the touchdown we needed to score, but unfortunately it got called back on an illegal motion call,” Blaylock said.
Collinsville drove for a field goal on their first drive of the half and appeared to have scored a touchdown on their second drive when Wellmaker ran the ball in from 6 yards out. However, the play was called back and the Kahoks settled for a field goal.
Blaylock said the fumble at the end of the first half that led to an immediate touchdown and the Kahoks’ touchdown that was called back were the biggest plays of the game.
The game was over when Zabala threw a ball directly to Beckwith with 2:11 to play. Beckwith happily accepted the gift, sealing the victory for the Warriors.
Despite Collinsville’s mistake prone day, Blaylock wanted to credit Granite City for the victory. “They played well enough to win,” Blaylock said.
After the loss to Granite City, the Kahoks hopes of securing a playoff spot are fading. 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.
Considering the Kahoks continued struggle to minimize mistakes and their dwindling playoff hopes, Collinsville may begin making some personnel changes.
“We’re getting to the point in the season where we have a lot of seniors on the field and, I’ve had – not mean spirited, but very frank – conversations with them about the fact that I’ve been hired to build a program, not just a one year team.” Blaylock said. “And, we have some younger kids with a lot of upside. We may have to take a strong look at changing out some personnel at this point and build for our future.”
Collinsville returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday in Edwardsville to take on the Tigers. The game will be broadcast live on kahoksports.com.
