Football Banquet and Awards night

Thank you to all of the parents that came to our Awards night last night at Belleville West High School. We really appreciate all that you do for your young men and our program. We gave out several awards last night including All Conference Awards, Scholastic Awards and the Team Awards which are voted on by the players only.

The winners of the Team Awards were:

Discipline: Orlando Sanders

Character: Brendan Saak

Toughness: Tori Millender

Team: Brian Hill

In addition to the Team Awards given out last night we also recognized the SWC All conference team members from Belleville West.

That list Includes:

1^st Team Offense

Running Back: Brian Hill

Tackle: Nick Allen

Kicker: Austin Seibert

1st Team Defense

Linebacker Tori Millender

Corner LaVante Smith

2nd Team Offense

Quarterback Sherand Boyd

Tackle Jamario Jefferies

Punter Austin Seibert

2nd Team Defense

Safety Brian Hill

Nose Tackle Antoine Williams

3rd Team Offense

Running back Antoine Davis

Wide Receiver Brenan Saak

Guard Josh Lon

Center Brian Harvey

3rd Team Defense

Linebacker Donald Driver

BND "ALL CITY" Team Announced

BND.COM

Following are the selections for the 2013 Belleville News-Democrat All-City Football Team.

Trophies were presented to the players at the 69th annual Belleville Rotary Club banquet Tuesday night at Fischer's Restaurant in Belleville.

The following were chosen by their respective coaches.

Outstanding offensive players:

Althoff: Eric Mertens, senior, quarterback

Belleville East: Brandon Mason, senior, running back

Belleville West: Brian Hill, senior, running back

Outstanding defensive players:

Althoff: Bret Silvestri, junior, linebacker

Belleville East: Markee Thompson, senior, linebacker

Belleville West: Tori Millender, senior, linebacker

The following were chosen by their coaches and News-Democrat sportswriters.

QUARTERBACK:Eric Mertens, senior, Althoff. Passing: 156 completions in 273 attempts (57 percent); 2,215 yards, 30 touchdowns, 10 interceptions. Rushing: 32 attempts, 22 yards, 3 touchdowns

RUNNING BACKS:

Brandon Mason, senior, Belleville East. Rushing: 138 carries for 609 yards, 4.4 average, 5 touchdowns

Brian Hill, senior, Belleville West. Rushing: 79 carries for 730 yards, 9.2 average, 15 rushing touchdowns. Receiving: 6 catches for 241 yards, 6 touchdowns; 2 returns for touchdowns for a total of 23 touchdowns.

Dennis Jackson, senior, Althoff. Rushing 84 attempts, 426 yards, 5.1 average, 2 rushing touchdowns, 1 2-point coversion. Receptions: 22 catches for 327 yards (14.9 average), 5 touchdowns

RECEIVERS

Brendan Saak, junior, Belleville West. 26 catches for 384 yards, 14.8 average, 2 touchdowns

Keenen Young, sophomore, Althoff. 59 catches for 867 yards (14.7 average), 7 touchdowns. 7 returns for 328, 47 yards average, 2 return touchdowns

Parker Hendricks, senior, Belleville East. 14 catches for 151 yards, 10.8 average, 1 touchdown

OFFENSIVE LINE:

Jamario Jeffries, senior, Belleville West, 6-foot-4, 265 pounds

Nick Allen, senior, Belleville West 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, both offensive and defensive lines

Ryan Ord, senior, Althoff, 5-foot-10, 233 pounds, both offensive and defensive lines

Erik Krause, senior, Althoff, 6-5, 270 pounds, both offensive and defensive lines

Nathan Sylvester, junior, Belleville East, 6-foot-2, 296 pounds, both offensive and defensive lines

KICKER:

Austin Seibert, junior, Belleville West. 58 kicks, 3,683 yards, 63.50 average, 9 field goals, 41 extra points, 68 total points. Punting: 42 punts for 2,97 yards, 49.93 average.

PUNTERJosiah Bergt, Belleville East. 39 punts, 1,492 yards, 38.26 average; also scored 2 touchdowns as a receiver.

DEFENSIVE LINE:

Jeff Brown, senior, Belleville East. 66 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery

Darrin McDaniel, senior, Belleville East. 43 tackles, 5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery

Antoine Williams, junior, Belleville West. 60 tackles, 3 sacks,

Ricky Nelson, junior, Belleville West

LINEBACKERS:

Tori Millender, senior, Belleville West. 97 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception; 1 return for 40 yards and 1 touchdown.

Cody Patterson, junior, Belleville East. 54 tackles, 4 sacks, 1 interception

Aaron Medina, junior, Althoff. 121 tackles, 1 sack, 2 fumble recoveries

Markee Thompson, senior, East. 90 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries

Bret Silvestri, junior, Althoff. 57 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 interception. Receiving: 4 receptions for 31 yards and 2 touchdowns

DEFENSIVE BACKS:

Damarius Ward, junior, Belleville East. 44 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, 2 interceptions. Rushing: 79 attempts, 382 yards, 4.4 average, 3 touchdowns

La'Vante Smith, senior, Belleville West. 38 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries, 3 interceptions.

Collin McClellan, senior, Althoff. 37 tackles, 1 interception

.Ryan Betts, junior, Belleville East. 18 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 interception

Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/2013/11/05/2887137/all-city-football-team-named-at.html#storylink=cpy

West falls to Oswego East 21-14 in the first round of the playoffs

By STEVE KORTE — News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE — Hoping to take that next step as a football program, the Belleville West Maroons got tripped up by Oswego East in the first round of Class 7A playoffs.

Running back Kalil Driver scored all three of Oswego East's touchdowns as the Wolves beat the Maroons 21-14 Saturday.

Driver had touchdown runs of 2 and 1 yards, and he also caught an 18-yard touchdown pass.
The Maroons ended their season at 7-3.

"I'm proud of the effort of our guys stepping in through adversity, but I'm not happy with us not winning in the playoffs,'' said West coach Cameron Pettus, whose team played the second half of the season without starting quarterback Sherand Boyd. "We have to take that next step as a program, and we have to win in the playoffs. We have to expect to win in the playoffs. When you lose like we did, it's very disappointing.''

The Maroons had the ball inside Oswego East territory twice in the final three minutes, but both drives stalled.

The first drive ended at the Oswego 34, but West's Brian Hill stripped the ball out of Driver's hands on the Wolves' first play from scrimmage.

"We talked about ball security before we went back out there and we fumbled,'' Wolves coach Tyson LeBlanc said. "If we get one first down and hang onto the ball, the game is over, and of course we come out the first play ... credit to them, they were able to strip the ball out.''

The Maroons took over at the Oswego 35. They got to the Oswego 19, but then ran out of downs.
"I was thinking, 'We've got a shot here,''' Pettus said of Hill's takeaway. "We still have to put the ball in the end zone. We had our opportunities.''

The Wolves struck for a big gain on their third play from scimmage. Ryan Garrigus caught a short pass from quarterback Tyler Kennedy and broke a tackle as a he ran down the sideline for 74 yards to the West 4.
Two plays later, Driver ran into the end zone from 2 yards out.

The Maroons tied the score at 7-7 on a 32-yard touchdown run by quarterback TeAntez Anthony, who burst straight up the middle on a keeper.

The Maroons went ahead 14-7 on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Anthony to Hill with 1:22 left in the first quarter.

The Wolves tied the score at 14-14 when Driver caught a screen pass in traffic, but burst loose for an 18-yard touchdown with 6:13 left in the second quarter.

The Wolves, playing with the wind at their backs, put together a 52-yard touchdown drive late in the second quarter.

Driver caught another screen pass for 36-yard gain to the West 1, and he ran 1 yard for the touchdown on the next play as the Wolves pulled in front 21-14 with 32 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

"I think they underestimated us a little bit, and for every reason,'' LeBlanc said. "They're coming out of a pretty tough league. Our league is pretty tough, too. I think we put them back on their heels a little bit. At halftime when we went in (the locker room), I said, 'They're trying to figure out what to do what right now.'''

Neither team would score in the second half as the game turned into a defensive struggle.

"We knew that if Boyd couldn't play they were going to be a little more one-dimensional, and all year our defense has been good against the run,'' LeBlanc said. "Outside of one game, we've been really solid against the run, especially spread run teams. We're a spread team ourselves, so it's something we practice against quite a bit. We did a good job outside of one or two plays of stopping them.''

The Wolves (7-3) advance to play Lincoln-Way East in the second round of the playoffs.

Driver ended up with 24 carries for 89 yards. Kennedy completed 14 of 30 passes for 233 yards.

Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/2013/11/02/2882013/maroons-fall-to-oswego-east-21.html#storylink=cpy

West to take on Oswego East in the first round of the IHSA 7A Playoffs

The Maroons found out who they would be playing in the first round of the playoffs in 2013. The Oswego East Wolves will travel to Belleville this weekend to take on West in a first round match up. Oswego plays in the Southwest Prairie Football Conference and finished the regular season with a 6-3 record. West secured a first round home playoff game with their win over Alton on Friday night. 

Oswego East Wolves

AT

Belleville West Maroons

Maroons take down Redbirds 24-7 in final regular season game

Belleville West capped off it's season with a 24-7 win over the Alton Redbirds on Friday night in Alton. West finishes the regular season with a 7-2 record. They will find out who they will face in the first round of the 7A IHSA playoffs tomorrow evening around 8 p.m.

Maroons to finish regular season Friday night at Alton

West's Brian Hill catches a TD pass 

Belleville West will travel to Alton Friday night to take on an Alton Redbirds team looking to get into the playoffs. The Maroons (6-2) are already in the 7A playoffs but could secure a home playoff game with a victory on Friday night. Alton (4-4) could get into the playoffs with a win. This game should have the feel and intensity of a playoff game as both teams have a lot at stake.