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At the start of the 2009 prep football season, Cahokia Comanches Varsity Football Coach Antwyne Golliday set two goals for his team. First, make it to the playoffs and second win the South Seven Conference Championship. Having completed both of those goals the Comanches have a new goal in mind. Winning a Class 5A football state championship. The Cahokia Comanches took their first step in doing so as they defeated the visiting East Peoria Raiders in convincing fashion 33-0.
Coming into the contest there were a few question marks for the Comanches who were undefeated until last week’s loss to Springfield Sacred Heart Griffin. How would the Comanches respond following the loss and more importantly, would the Comanches standout Quarterback Patrick Ivy and his brother, backup Quarterback Lamontiez Ivy, even be at the game Saturday following the death of their stepfather on Thursday evening. Cahokia Comanches Head Coach Antwyne Golliday said, “I was worried about Patrick and his brother Lamontiez. They didn’t show for practice yesterday, which was understandable and at that time we didn’t know if they would be here today. So we worked another offense just in case we had to go without them. Under the circumstances they stepped up and Patrick played his heart out today.” Patrick Ivy finished the day 12 of 22 for 187 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions. Not his best game of the year but good enough when you consider the strong easterly wind that made it difficult for either team to pass when moving westward down the field.
Equally if not more impressive was the performance of Cahokia Comanche wide receiver Jimmie Hunt. The Mizzou prospect has been turning heads all year with his speed and athletic ability on offense and defense. Hunt stole the show again on Saturday exploiting the East Peoria Raider defense for 113 yards and 1 touchdown on just 7 receptions. He also ran for two extra point attempts and converted three Comanche 4th downs into first downs. Coach Golliday said, “Jimmie Hunt is just Jimmie Hunt. He does some things on the football field that you just don’t see other kids do. Out of the three fake punts he converted today two of them were called. But he pretty much has the green light from me in those situations.”
The unheralded Cahokia Comanche defense did it again Saturday pitching their fourth shutout of the year. Comanche opponents averaged just 7.1 points a game during the regular season and Coach Golliday hopes their strong play defensively continues. ”Defense has been our strong point all season. I keep telling folks that believe it or not we work more on defense than offense. I figure if you can’t score, you can’t win.” And that philosophy held true against the East Peoria Raiders. The Raiders ran well between the tackles at times but never made it into the red zone until late in the 4th quarter where their drive stalled at the Comanche 6 yard line as time expired. The Raiders were also unable to muster any real passing game as Comanche defenders sacked the quarterback twice on their way to the shut out victory.
The Comanches opening drive took almost seven minutes off the clock and ended at the East Peoria 8 yard line as the Raider defense stiffened and kept the Comanches out of the end zone.
On the Comanches second possession they finally scored on an eight play 57 yard drive as Cahokia Quarterback Patrick Ivy scored on a one yard plunge and kicker Brad Schmid added the extra point making it 7-0 with 11:30 left in the 2nd quarter.
After forcing the Raiders to punt from their end zone into the wind, the Comanches started their next drive from the East Peoria 20 yard line. On just two plays Comanche running back Joe Grinston ran for 9 yards and then 11 yards for the score. After the extra point by Brad Schmid the Comanches led 14-0 with 5:16 left in the half.
After one of Jimmie Hunt’s three fourth down conversions the Comanche’s scored on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 24 yard pass from Quarterback Patrick Ivy to Running back Brandon Gates. Jimmie Hunt scored the two point conversion to make it 22-0 with 11:53 left in the fourth quarter.
After a personal foul penalty against the Raiders gave the Comanches a first and ten at the Raider 23, the Comanches scored on a pass from scrambling quarterback Patrick Ivy who threw the ball into the end zone while in the grasp of a Raider defender. Wide receiver Jimmie Hunt went up for the ball between two Raider defenders and came down with it for the touchdown. Jimmie Hunt scored the two point conversion to close out the scoring 30-0 with 4:52 left in the fourth quarter.
The Comanches are now slated to host Joliet Catholic Academy who beat Triad 48-7 to advance to the second round. The date and time have yet to be announced although it is probable that the game will be Saturday, Nov. 7th, 1:00 p.m. at Cahokia High School.
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