BELLEVILLE - Belleville East linebacker Matt Blaharczyk was in the right place at the right time Saturday afternoon.

Blaharczyk recovered two second-half fumbles to help the host Lancers survive a 19-14 victory over Southwestern Conference foe and crosstown rival Belleville West.

East, No. 6 in the Post-Dispatch large-schools rankings and No. 5 in the Illinois Associated Press Class 8A state poll, upped its record to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the conference. The Lancers, who own a 29-14 record over West, share the top spot in the conference with East St. Louis. The two schools will collide on Oct. 9 at East St. Louis.

Unranked West fell to 3-2, 1-2.

"I wouldn't have been able to do that without Trey Parker," Blaharczyk said of his teammate. "He had a great hit on that first one. I was just in the right place at the right time and jumped on the ball.

"On the second, I was just playing my role on defense and saw the ball pop out. Great hit and I jumped on it."

On the first recovery, Parker drilled return man Sedrick Spiller, who was running back a kickoff after the Lancers had taken a 19-14 lead on a 30-yard touchdown scamper by running back Kevin Gettis with 7 minutes 37 seconds left in the game. The 2-point conversion pass failed.

Spiller had taken the kickoff at the 11 and was rumbling at his own 23-yard-line when Parker drilled Spiller with a direct hit jarring the ball loose as Blaharczyk fell on it with 7:31 to go.

Blaharczyk's second recovery with 2:28 left also came after a hit by a couple of Lancers defenders on Spiller, who had blasted up the middle for a 7-yard gain to the East 34.

The fumbles were two of three committed in the game by West _ all in the second half.

"When you play a tough game like we did today, you just can't afford to turn the ball over," Maroons coach Ric Johns said. "I'm really proud of my guys. They played really hard. That's a heck of a team we played today."

West's first fumble of the game allowed East to close a 14-7 margin to 14-13 in the third quarter. On the fumble, quarterback Jodeci Mack had connected on a pass over the middle to Kyle Ishman, who was dropped immediately as he coughed the ball up at his own 43 with 4:48 remaining in the quarter and Gettis recovered.

Nine plays later, quarterback Cory Schaab found Chris Broadway for a 4-yard touchdown pass with 11:55 to go in the game. But Brandon Leveling's extra point kick was low as it hit one of his lineman on the backside.

The big play on the drive was a fourth down and nine fake punt at the West 42 by punter Darnell Stevenson. He gained 17 yards around the left side to keep the drive alive.

The Lancers defense then stopped the Maroons on their next possession and East needed only four plays to go 54 yards for the game-winner as Gettis busted off the left side with 7:37 left.

Blaharczyk then recovered his back-to-back fumbles on West's next two possessions.

"That's what I told the kids," Lancers coach Tim Funk said. "There's three important facets of the game _ offense, defense and special teams. And the team that wins two of those three usually wins. So it's very important. We preach that every day."

West, trying to beat East for a second successive year, had grabbed a 14-7 lead thanks to its special teams when former East player Mike Izraelite recovered a Stevenson punt return fumble at the Lancers 18 with 9:26 to go in the third quarter.

Quarterback Jodeci Mack burst up the middle for a 5-yard score five plays later and Kent Kobernus added the extra point kick with 7:19 left in the quarter.

Before that, neither team could get much done on the ground or in the air as the teams struggled to a 7-7 halftime tie before the skies opened up forcing a 65-minute lightning delay to start the second half.

Spiller had given the Maroons a 6-0 lead in the second quarter on a 19-yard burst with 7:51 to go as Kobernus added the point. But the Lancers answered back on their ensuing possession when Schaab found James Pace for a 42-yard catch and run at the 4:20 mark. Leveling kicked the point.

For the game, Schaab completed 13 of 16 passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns as East managed 244 offensive yards to 178 for West.

"Our defense, and once again you guys are getting sick of hearing this, but that's a strong part of our team," Funk reiterated. "The offense has got to catch up. We've got some good athletes on offense and some playmakers. We've just got to get them in space. Today we did a pretty good job of doing that."

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