Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008

Banged-up Flyers rout Warriors

They lead 22-0 by conclusion of opening quarter

EAST ST. LOUIS -- The points, wins and accolades keep piling up for the East St. Louis Flyers.

And unfortunately, so do the injuries.

Junior running back Courtney Molton rushed for 154 yards and three touchdowns while quarterback Detchauz Wray threw a pair of scoring passes as the Flyers rolled to a 52-0 win over Granite City on Friday at Clyde Jordan Stadium.

The lone undefeated team in the Southwestern Conference, East St. Louis (5-0, 6-1), scored three touchdowns in its first 12 offensive plays and took a 22-0 lead after one quarter.

Granite City (1-4, 3-4) never was a threat after the first quarter.

"I thought we came out and played well. The guys on the offensive line did a great job and we were able to get the running game going," Flyers coach Darren Sunkett said. "Considering the situation with the injury to Demond, I thought the kids handled it very well. Then to see another teammate go down, well, it's just very difficult."

But the story of the game and of the last two weeks for the Flyers continued to be injuries. One week after junior linebacker Demond Hunt Jr. suffered a serious head injury in a win over Collinsville, senior linebacker Justin Cromer was injured.

The play came with 4 minutes 18 seconds left in the second quarter. After a pileup, Cromer lay motionless on the field as a large senior night crowd stood in silence and Flyers players stood in shock, visibly shaken as another teammate was injured.

Medical personnel aided Cromer who had a neck brace put on and was placed on a stretcher. He was taken by ambulance to Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis.

Hunt remained in fair condition at Cardinal Glennon on Friday.

Granite City offensive lineman Shane Vinson was also taken by ambulance to Cardinal Glennon at the close of the first half with an undisclosed injury, while Molton, who scored on runs of 51, 13 and three yards, suffered an ankle injury in the second half and did not return.

Granite City coach J.D. Lorton said he did not know the severity of Vinson's injury.

"I don't know how it happened. I just hope that none of the injuries are serious," Lorton said. "My guys played hard and they kept giving it all they had to the end. They (East St. Louis) are very good."

Wray fired a 41-yard scoring strike to Kraig Appleton and a 69-yard touchdown pass to Terry Hawthorne to aid the effort of Molton.

The Flyers defensive effort was led by senior defensive back Tommy Hopkins and senior defensive tackle Ty Phillips.

Phillips even had an interception on a tipped pass late in the second quarter which set up Molton's second touchdown run.

After suffering the injury to his ankle, Molton, the Flyers top running back and one of the best in the St. Louis area, sat on the bench with ice on both his ankle and knee.

Sunkett said Molton will have an MRI done this weekend.

Contact reporter Dean Criddle at 239-2665 or dcriddle@bnd.com.