By David Wilhelm BND
BELLEVILLE -- Gus Wellmaker was the difference for the Collinsville Kahoks on Friday.
Wellmaker, a senior receiver and safety, had a 70-yard touchdown catch, a 71-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 20-yard run on a fourth-and-18 play late in the game that sealed the Kahoks' 17-11 victory over Belleville West.
For good measure, Wellmaker added a bone-jarring second-half hit on Maroons sophomore receiver Brendan Saak after Saak caught a 6-yard pass.
"I liked that wildcat dart," Wellmaker said of the game-clinching run for a first down as he lined up at quarterback in a wildcat formation. "I get to pick my own hole and hit it as fast as I can. I wanted to pass it so bad because I saw my man was open. But then I saw the (right) end was open and I just took it."
The Kahoks (2-2 overall, 2-0 in the Southwestern Conference), who won their second game in a row, led 17-0 midway through the second quarter on junior quarterback Falando Wilkinson's touchdown throw to Wellmaker, senior Dominic Zavaglia's 32-yard field goal and Wellmaker's punt return.
Wilkinson played the majority of the time at quarterback for senior J'Vaughn Williams, who was suspended along with senior teammate Dorian Deer for their participation in an end-zone scuffle last week against Alton. Wilkinson was 9-for-11 for 158 yards, while Wellmaker had seven of the catches for 142 yards.
"The defense played outstanding, like I thought they would," said Collinsville coach Mike Liljegren, whose team got two second-half interceptions by senior Seth Stanton and a fourth-quarter fumble recovery.
"And I was hoping," Liljegren said, "that we would get a special-teams touchdown, and we did. West played hard to the end. It was a little too close, but a win is a win and we'll take it."
Despite their large deficit, the Maroons (1-3, 0-2) refused to buckle. They cut their deficit to 17-4 on a pair of Collinsville snaps out of the end zone that went for safeties --one late in the first half and another late in the third quarter.
And after senior quarterback Kyle Leadlove hit junior Pierre-Gee Tucker with a 3-yard touchdown pass with 8:05 left in the game, West trailed just 17-11.
The Maroons then forced a Collinsville punt, but turned the ball over on downs with 3:58 remaining, and Collinsville picked up two first downs, one coming when West jumped offsides as the Kahoks faced a fourth-and-1 play.
"You can't get down 17-0 and expect to come back," Maroons coach Cameron Pettus said. "Their defense played very well tonight. (But) they let us back into it snapping the ball. But you've got to give credit to them. They made more plays than we did and we just were not very good."
Pettus said nothing about Wellmaker's play was surprising. The Division I prospect at safety clearly is among the top players in the area.
"We knew what he was when he came in," Pettus said. "He's a stud and he proved it tonight. The punt return after the inadvertent whistle was a killer. That was a big momentum swing."
On a punt by West freshman Austin Seibert, Collinsville senior Javon Dillon called a fair catch. But just as the ball reached Dillon, one of the officials blew his whistle. The ball went off Dillon's hands and the Maroons recovered in Kahoks territory, but Seibert was forced to punt again because of the early whistle.
Wellmaker capitalized, making a move toward the right sidelines and galloping into the end zone from 71 yards out to put Collinsville on top 17-0 with 6:12 left in the first half.
"I don't want to comment because I don't want to be negative about it," Pettus said of the decision. "It was just not a very good play."
Wellmaker said he only had to follow his teammates into the end zone.
"I had a whole bunch of blockers in front of me," he said. "I just followed them and they led me to the touchdown."
