Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008

Maroons clinch trip to playoffs with win over O'Fallon

West grinds out over 350 yards on the ground

O'FALLON -- It wasn't a perfect performance, but it was good enough to get the Belleville West Maroons their playoff berth-clinching sixth win of the season.

Jodeci Mack, Sean Lewis and Jarvis Patterson all rushed for more than 100 yards as the Maroons beat the O'Fallon Panthers 28-17 Friday in a Southwestern Conference game.

"We can't complain too much, but we saw a lot of things we can improve on," West coach Ric Johns said. "We got a little sloppy some times and made some mental errors. I don't think there is a coach on our staff right now that feels like we had a good night, including myself."

On the bright side, the Maroons (6-1, 4-1) assured themselves of their first playoff berth since 2002, and they've tallied six wins in a season for the first time since 1993.

"The six wins are really nice," Johns said. "I'm glad we took care of it tonight. We can concentrate on Alton, but we don't have to worry about this team being the first Belleville West team in so many years ... that type of thing. We got the sixth win, and now we're going to go for seven."

The Maroons had 349 rushing yards. Mack rushed for 129 yards, Lewis rushed for 115 yards and one touchdown and Patterson rushed for 109 yards.

Mack also had a 7-yard touchdown pass to Patterson, who bounced off a defender around the O'Fallon 5 and then fought his way into the end zone.

Junior running back Travis Rupert rushed for two touchdowns and junior defensive back Tony Kossina intercepted three passes.

The Maroons were the beneficiaries of seven turnovers -- four fumbles and three interceptions -- by the Panthers (2-5, 1-4).

"Very frustrating," O'Fallon coach Brandon Joggerst said of the turnovers. "It became contagious. I don't know if we've had one or two fumbles all year. We had some bad bounces. It seemed like every time it went on the ground, they got it. To have seven turnovers, and keep it close like we did, that's the frustrating part."

The Panthers fumbled on their first play from scrimmage and again on their third play from scrimmage.

The first fumble was recovered by West linebacker Christian Vaughn at the O'Fallon 3.

Rupert ran around the left side for the touchdown on the Maroons' first play from scrimmage.

Rupert had a 23-yard touchdown run negated by a penalty on the Maroons' second offensive possession, which ended on a missed field goal.

The Panthers got a 28-yard field goal from Matt Kendall to cut their deficit to 7-3, but Rupert ran 19 yards for a touchdown to put the Maroons back in front 14-3.

Rupert had only carried the ball few times this season prior to Friday night.

"Rupert is going to be a great ballplayer," Johns said. "He started off the season on suspension, and we've kind of eased him into the program. Right now, we have three pretty good halfbacks with Rupert, (Dustin) Heggemeir and Patterson."

O'Fallon's Eric Lewis had a 73-yard kickoff return for a touchdown as he burst up the middle and then split two defenders trying to corrall him.

Lewis' touchdown closed the Panthers within 14-10 with nine seconds left in the first quarter.

Mack's touchdown pass to Patterson put the Maroons ahead 21-10 with 2:27 left in the first half.

The Maroons marched 62 yards on 10 plays on the opening drive of the second half. The drive was capped by Sean Lewis' 6-yard touchdown run.

Eric Lewis scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 3:39 left in the fourth quarter to get the Panthers within 28-17.

The Panthers failed to recover an on-side kick, but they did get the ball back on a fumble by the Maroons with 3:28 left. However, the Panthers fumbled the bal right back ot the Maroons, who were then able to run out the clock.

"A lot of times that happens when a season is going your way," Johns said of his defense getting some timely turnovers in the game. "On the other side of the coin, when a season is not going your way, that seems to be the kind of thing that doesn't happen."

Contact reporter Steve Korte at skorte@bnd.com or 239-2522.