East St. Louis had two touchdowns nullified by penalties and another sail through the hands of a receiver in Saturday’s Class 7A championship game against Geneva.
The Flyers also committed 19 penalties for 166 yards, both title-game records for any class.
In the end, none of that mattered.
The Flyers scored 27 unanswered points in the second half and rolled to a 33-14 victory over the previously unbeaten Vikings to win their seventh championship and first since 1991.
Geneva (13-1) was making its first state title-game appearance since 1975, when the Vikings lost to Metamora in 3A.
“They were unbelievable,” running back Michael Ratay said of the Flyers. “They were flying to the ball. They were the fastest team I ever played against in my life.
“We had a great year. Coming in we were 13-0. You couldn’t ask for more than that. We just couldn’t do it.”
Ratay had 26 carries for 91 yards and caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Beitzel (14 of 24 for 119 yards, two TDs, one interception) with 43 seconds left to complete the scoring.
Ratay finished the season with 2,855 rushing yards and 47 total touchdowns.
“We kept fighting all the way to the end,” Ratay said.
The Vikings led 7-6 at the half before East St. Louis went ahead for good on Terry Hawthorne’s 10-yard TD reception with 8 minutes 31 seconds left in the third quarter.
“We just started feeling it,” Hawthorne said. “All gas, no brakes — that’s how I like to say it.”
Receiver Kraig Appleton made a leaping catch at the goal line for a 42-yard touchdown that put East St. Louis ahead 19-7 at the 10:34 mark of the fourth quarter.
A minute later, Hawthorne grabbed his seventh interception of the playoffs to set up another score, a 2-yard dive by Courtney Molton, for a 26-7 cushion with 9:27 remaining.
Keante Minor made it 33-7 with a 10-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Detchauz Wray with 4:27 left.
Wray, a junior, completed 10 of 20 passes for 198 yards and four touchdowns, one each to Hawthorne, Appleton, Minor and fullback Chris Murphy.
“We have a lot of speed,” Appleton said. “We had the will to win.”
East St. Louis (13-1) had 356 yards of total offense to Geneva’s 189.
