Friday, Sep. 05, 2008

Renewed rivalry: Belleville West, Althoff set to collide

Crusaders have won their last six meetings

Ric Johns grew up in Belleville and even though the Belleville West football coach used to play for Belleville East, he understands the meaning of the West-Althoff rivalry.

He also doesn't have to be reminded that the Maroons have beaten Althoff only twice since 1988, winning in 2001 and 1994. That's a trend Johns would like to change beginning with the rivalry's latest installment at 7 p.m. today at Lindenwood Stadium.

"It's imperative for our program to make this a little bit more competitive series," said Johns, whose team has dropped six straight to the Crusaders. "In our situation, the best football players on the west end of Belleville aren't always at Belleville West.

"Is this a big game for the program? You betcha it is. People can deny that all they want and they can skirt the issue all they want, but this is in our backyard -- and it's a big game."

Althoff coach Ken Turner agreed.

"We've had some close games and we just came out on top," Turner said. "I don't know if there's anything else to it. I know our kids look forward to this game every year. It's like one of the biggest games on the schedule for us and I'm pretty sure it's the same thing for them."

Althoff's dominance hasn't always been the case. West owned a 38-10-3 record against the Crusaders from 1933 to 1984.

Both teams won their season openers with new starting quarterbacks.

West dumped Highland 28-6 behind a 190-yard rushing performance by junior quarterback Jodecci Mack, who scored twice. Althoff got 174 yards and four touchdowns from sophomore back Keith Chism in a 41-0 win over Northwest Academy of St. Louis, with quarterback Brady Nowak throwing for 123 yards and a TD.

The Maroons piled up 335 yards rushing on 39 carries against Highland, averaging nearly nine yards on every play. Those kind of numbers concern Turner.

"They've got three pretty good runners in (Jarvis) Patterson, (Sean) Lewis and Mack, so we know we've got our work cut out for us," Turner said. "They've also got a good running quarterback this year, which makes him more of a triple threat than just worrying about two or three guys running the ball."

Johns and the Maroons are glad former Althoff star Jason Ford is now wearing an University of Illinois jersey.

In the last three Althoff victories over West, including 28-12 in 2007, Ford exploded for a combined 642 yards and 10 touchdowns. He even returned a kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown last season.

Johns believes Althoff didn't break out its entire offensive arsenal last week against Northwest.

"They really didn't show a lot of different wrinkles in that first game, but that doesn't mean they don't have them in the closet ready for us," he said.

Turner admitted as much, but there wasn't any real secrecy going on.

"We wanted to keep it simple because I've got a lot of young guys," Turner explained. "Hopefully, we can go a little deeper into our playbook this weekend."

Johns said Mack has a good understanding of his option offense.

"He probably exceeded expectations as far as running the offense," Johns said. "If he continues to do that, it will add balance to our offense. All our backs should benefit from his ability to run the ball."

Lewis finished with 72 yards and Patterson had 69.

The Crusaders will have senior offensive and defensive tackle Will Lawson (6-foot-8, 285 pounds) in the mix this week. Lawson, who has been in and out of the lineup since his sophomore year, already has scholarship offers from Missouri and Ball State.

"He's had two really good weeks of practice," Turner said. "It's the hardest I've seen that kid work since he's been playing football."

Contact reporter Norm Sanders at nsanders@bnd.com or 239-2454.