BELLEVILLE -- It was East St. Louis' defense that created the turnover that sparked the Flyers' offense to life.
A fumble forced deep in Belleville West territory triggered a 35-point, second-half outburst as the Flyers beat the Maroons 35-7 Saturday afternoon in a Southwestern Conference game.
The two teams went into the second half locked in a scoreless stalemate.
Running back Jeremy Nicholson ran for two touchdowns in the third quarter and quarterback Lamontiez Ivy ran and threw for touchdowns in the fouth quarter as the Flyers went up 28-0.
"We came out a little flat,'' Flyers coach Darren Sunkett said. "We went against a very eager and very hungry Belleville West squad. They came out very competitive and pushed us to the limit, but our kids responded well in the second half.''
The win was the fourth in a row for the Flyers (6-2, 5-1). It enabled them to remain tied with the O'Fallon Panthers (7-1, 5-1) for first place in the Southwestern Conference heading into their final game against the winless Alton Redbirds.
"(We're in) a real nice position,'' said Sunkett, whose team edged O'Fallon 23-22 two weeks ago. "Right now, though, we're just trying to play football and get better for the playoffs.''
The Maroons dropped to 2-6 overall, 1-5 in the SWC. They played nearly flawless defensively for a half.
"I think bottom line is we don't care about who they are, we only care about who we are,'' West coach Cameron Pettus said. "We're not going anywhere. We're only going to get better. That's the point that I told my players.''
The Flyers had a 47-yard touchdown run by Nicholson negated by a holding penalty on their first possession and then had a drive stall after a sack by West's Andrew Johns on their second possession.
East St. Louis' third possession ended when West's Kyle Sweeney came up with a fumble recovery at the West 22.
The Flyers had the ball deep in West territory near the end of the first half, but they came away with no points after a dropped passs on fourth-and-3 from the West 8.
"We shot ourselves in the foot the whole first half, and the second half we came out and actually put some drives together and good things happened for us,'' Sunkett said.
The Flyers' Gregory Taylor recovered a fumble at the West 6 on the second play from scrimmage in the second half.
"The defense has been playing well all season,'' Sunkett said. "They've been doing a great job for us.''
Two plays later, Nicholson ran 6 yards around the left side to put the Flyers ahead 7-0.
Another Nicholson 6-yard run around the left side increased the Flyers' lead to 14-0 with 3:58 left in the third quarter.
Ivy dove 4 yards for a touchdown to cap 43-yard drive and Ivy threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Tamji Jackson as the Flyers went up 28-0.
Ivy completed 10 of 18 passes for 229 yards in the game. Daniel Willians had six catches for 121 yards and Jackson had four catches for 108 yards.
The Maroons got on the scoreboard when junior quarterback Shawn Cable threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Ray Scott with 1:39 left.
The Maroons attempted an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, but East St. Louis' Charlie Bell returned it 50 yards for a touchdown.
"I was proud of our effort,'' Pettus said. "We're close. We're not intimidated by those guys, and I think we're getting better.''
