Belleville East is 1-9 against East St. Louis since September of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Belleville East Lancers will welcome the East St. Louis Flyers at 1:00 p.m.
Belleville East is headed into the game having just suffered their biggest defeat since September 16, 2023 on Friday. They were outmatched by Althoff Catholic on the road and fell 49-21. The loss was the Lancers' first of the season.
Despite the loss, Belleville East got top-tier performance from Jaedon Beamon, who rushed for 96 yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance gave Beamon a new career-high in rushing yards. James Johnson also helped out with an impressive 80 receiving yards.
On Saturday fans watched as two of the best teams in the nation hit the field. East St. Louis put the hurt on Imhotep Charter with a sharp 35-14 win. The victory was just business as usual For the Flyers, who after three games remain undefeated this season.
East St. Louis' win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Larevious Woods, who rushed for 50 yards and two touchdowns. Another player making a difference was Christopher Bennett, who picked up 87 receiving yards and a touchdown.
East St. Louis' defense stepped up as well, laying out Joey Mcleish. five times. Mike Taylor was especially locked on to Imhotep Charter's QB and sacked him twice. East St. Louis got some further help from Raheem Floyd: he made nine total tackles and snagging an interception which he returned one-yard for a touchdown.
Having lost for the first time this season, Belleville East fell to 2-1. As for East St. Louis, they pushed their record up to 3-0 with that victory, which was their fifth straight on the road dating back to last season.
Belleville East was dealt a bruising 48-0 defeat at the hands of East St. Louis when the teams last played back in September of 2023. Thankfully for Belleville East, Robert (Pops) Battle (who rushed for 170 yards and a touchdown while picking up 10.6 yards per carry, and also threw for 323 yards and two touchdowns) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
