What a night at Jim Finks Field that saw the Salem Wildcats escape Homecoming & Senior Night with a 27-26 win over the Eagles that came down to the game’s final seconds.
The Salem Wildcats led 27-6 with 10:48 left in their game last night with Columbia. The Eagles would score 2 straight touchdowns in a span of under 4 minutes including a fumble recovery for a score to cut the advantage to 27-20 with 7:18 left. After Salem had a drive stall at the Eagles 5 yard line, Columbia would march down and score with 14 seconds left to make the score 27-26. The Eagles chose to go for 2 and the win, and Brennan Richardson put pressure on the QB and broke up the play to give the Cats the win.
It’s a big one for Salem who kept their playoff hopes alive improving to 4-3 on the season. With the number of playoff points Salem has, 5 wins will get them in, however they have to play at 4-3 Freeburg next week and finish up on the road at 5-2 Charleston in Week 9.
Jeremiah Reinhardt rushed 18 times for 42 yards that included 2 touchdowns. Sam Greene also rushed 11 times for 34 yards including a score. Miking Ettress had 4 catches for 67 yards including a 43 yard touchdown catch and Connor Tennyson caught 9 balls for 93 yards. Greene finished the game 17-of-21 for 166 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
Also in the conference, Salem’s opponent next week, Freeburg, routed Wood River 61-14 and 5th ranked Roxana won their showdown with Breese Central 52-28.
The Centralia Orphans fell at Cahokia 34-8, Flora lost to Hamilton County 38-34, Mount Vernon shutout Granite City 62-0, Olney fell to Paris 20-7, Red Bud over Wesclin 28-0.
6th ranked Althoff took a tie first half game with Mater Dei and turned it into a 41-22 victory. Dierre Hill Jr had 27 carries for 216 yards and 3 scores. There were 28 total penalties in this contentious game with the Knights flagged 14 times for 150 yards.
Scoreboard:
- Althoff 41 Mater Dei 22
- Cahokia 34 Centralia 8
- Carterville 48 Massac County 7
- Chester 49 Dupo 0
- Collinsville 57 Marion 0
- DuQuoin 42 Anna 13
- East St Louis 49 Alton 0
- Edwardsville 49 Belleville East 45
- Freeburg 61 Wood River 14
- Greenville 41 Carlinville 7
- Hamilton County 38 Flora 34
- Highland 36 Triad 7
- Jerseyville 33 Mascoutah 14
- Litchfield 37 Staunton 0
- Mahomet 48 Effingham 0
- Mount Vernon 62 Granite City 0
- Mt Carmel 23 Casey 20
- Mt Zion 28 Charleston 14
- Murphysboro 40 Harrisburg 0
- Nashville 49 Pinckneyville 7
- O’Fallon 56 Belleville West 7
- Pana 43 Gillespie 9
- Paris 20 Olney 7
- Piasa 20 North Mac 19
- Red Bud 28 Wesclin 0
- Robinson 36 Newton 28
- Roxana 52 Breese Central 28
- Salem 27 Columbia 26
- Sesser 46 Eldorado 6
- Taylorville 28 Mattoon 21
- Waterloo 57 Civic Memorial 15
