East St. Louis (Ill.) looks to upend one of the nation's most dynamic high school football programs Friday when it takes on second-ranked
IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) at Madison-Ridgeland Academy in Mississippi. The Flyers feature
Luther Burden III, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound receiver with 39 FBS offers and one of the most dynamic offensive players in the country, who hopes to repeat an 11-catch, 169-yard, three-touchdown performance in his second national showdown.
The first time Burden and the Flyers (7-1) dropped a road game in California to No. 5 St. John Bosco, 42-26. In that game, Burden brought the Flyers back from a 35-0 third-quarter deficit with touchdown catches of 30 and 18 yards from sophomore quarterback
Robert Battle and a spectacular 70-yard punt return for score. That helped close the gap to 35-26 with four minutes remaining.
Luther Burden III, East St. Louis
File photo by Chris Johns
Propelled by his performance against Bosco, Burden moved up this week to No. 5 in the 247Sports 2022 national recruit rankings. On Tuesday, Burden picked Missouri as his college choice.
The loss to Bosco (7-1) is the only blemish on East St. Louis' record.
Before the season, East St. Louis coach Darren Sunkett told
Shaw Media that scheduling IMG to close the regular season was for good reason.
“We feel like it’s the best tune-up we can get, I can tell you that,”
Sunkett said. “The good thing about that is it gives our kids a good
eight weeks to mature and develop and you hope, as a program, that you
get better week to week. So we feel like we should be rolling pretty
good come Week 9.”
Are they ever rolling now.
Since the loss to Bosco, the Flyers have been on a rampage, outscoring five opponents 298-2 with four shutouts. The scores have been ominous: 56-0, 48-2, 68-0, 68-0 and 58-0. Burden is up to 46 catches for 742 yards and 12 touchdowns. Battle has accounted for nearly 2,000 yards and 18 touchdowns. And a run-by-committee attack has piled up more than 1,700 yards and 21 scores.
A swarming defense, led by 6-4, 250-pound defensive lineman
Frank Wilson Jr., has piled up 31 sacks by 13 different players. Senior cornerback
Toriano Pride has three interceptions and averaged 43 yards per return.
But the Flyers take on a completely different beast in IMG Academy, which boasts seven of the top 100 senior recruits in the country. The ninth-year program, under former NFL linebacker and coach Pepper Johnson, is a boarding school that lands elite players from throughout the country. The Ascenders don't play for a Florida state championship but instead plays a national schedule.
They are riding a 17-game win streak, last week recording by far its closest victory in the run, 24-14 over visiting St. Thomas More. The closest previous margin was 27 during a 41-14 win in 2020 over Texas power Duncanville.
Keyed by three TD runs from
Stacy Gage, last week's sluggish win was, in part, because IMG hadn't played for three weeks, a 49-0 win over Springfield (Ma.) on Sept. 25. The Ascenders were also missing leading rusher
Kaytron Allen, the 5-11, 220-pound senior headed to Penn State.
If IMG is at full strength, it will feature such elite players as safety Kamari Wilson (No. 20 senior recruit, uncommitted), cornerback Daylen Everette (No. 36, Clemson commit), defensive lineman Bear Alexander (No. 39, Georgia), offensive tackle Tyler Booker (45, Alabama), tight end Jaleel Skinner (73, Alabama), edge rusher Jihaad Campbell (81, Clemson) and safety Keon Sabb (82, Clemson).
Before last week's win, the Ascenders outscored opponents, 279-31.
Stacy Gage, IMG Academy.
Photo by Mike Janes
