The Salem Wildcats knocked off Charleston on the road holding on to beat them 28-23 to become playoff eligible with their 5th win of the season. The two teams were scoreless after the opening quarter. Salem would take a 14-10 lead heading into halftime after Sam Greene found Caden Harris on a short pass that Harris would take 56 yards for the score. After Charleston answered with a td of their own and a 30 yard field goal from Connor Woodley to make it 10-7 Charleston, Salem went ahead with 2:29 left in the half on a Brayden Smith 15 yard rushing score.
Salem would tack on a touchdown in the 3rd quarter with a Harris 7 yard scoring run to make it 21-10. Harris scored again early in the 4th to make it 28-10 and that is when Charleston started to make their comeback. The Trojans scored a touchdown to make it 28-17 and then with 1:07 left in the game, the Trojans got a 2 yard rushing touchdown to make the score 28-23 missing the 2 point conversion. Salem would recover the onside kick and run out the rest of the clock to finish the regular season 5-4.
Smith finished with 15 carries for 110 yards and a touchdown. Bee rushed 11 times for 62 yards and Harris had those 3 touchdowns. Bee also caught 3 balls for 46 yards, Noah Nix made a big 29 yard reception as quarterback Greene finished 7-18 for 174 yards and that touchdown.
Salem will find out tonight if they are in the playoffs and who they will play.
The Centralia Orphans failed to get playoff eligible finishing at 4-5 after their loss at Collinsville 59-21. Columbia did get their 5th win overcoming an early deficit to beat Jerseyville 47-34. Greenville trailed 7-0 at rival Vandalia in their bid to get to 5 wins and would come back to beat the Vandals 42-21 dropping Vandalia to 7-2. Highland won the battle of 4-4 teams at Effingham 42-21.
Scoreboard:
- Belleville East 28 Granite City 21
- Benton 42 Anna 14
- Bethalto CM 56 Taylorville 12
- Breese Central 54 Herrin 22
- Breese Mater Dei 28 Mt Zion 14
- Carmi 40 Flora 25
- Carterville 42 Harrisburg 12
- Casey 35 Red Hill 6
- Chester 31 Mt Vernon 15
- Collinsville 59 Centralia 21
- Columbia 47 Jerseyville 34
- DuQuoin 28 Murphysboro 14
- East Alton Wood River 38 Red Bud 21
- Eldorado 24 Edwards County 8
- Fairfield def. Vienna – forfeit
- Freeburg 24 Waterloo 14
- Greenville 42 Vandalia 21
- Highland 42 Effingham 21
- Hillsboro 48 Litchfield 6
- IMG Academy-Blue, Fla 49 East St Louis 8
- Jackson, Mo 31 O’Fallon 10
- Johnston City 66 Christopher 8
- Lawrenceville 52 Palestine 22
- Mahomet 21 Bloomington 7
- Marion 59 Mattoon 8
- Mascoutah 42 Carbondale 15
- Massac County 48 Pinckneyville 24
- Mt Carmel 37 Paris 14
- Newton 28 Marshall 0
- Nokomis 47 Dupo 0
- Olney 20 Robinson 12
- Pana 27 Carlinville 13
- Piasa 35 Gillespie 18
- Sesser 21 Hamilton County 20
- Staunton 19 Carlyle 6
- Trenton Wesclin 42 Madison 24
- Triad 46 Lincoln 21
