EAST ST. LOUIS — With Flyers running back Courtney Molton still nursing a tender left ankle, Darius Stewart filled in for Molton on Saturday afternoon.
Stewart, a transfer from McCluer North who had been inactive for most of the season for undisclosed reasons, rushed for 214 yards on 22 carries and scored three touchdowns as East St. Louis whipped visiting Minooka 48-20 in the second round of the Illinois Class 7A state football playoffs at Clyde C. Jordan Memorial Stadium.
The Flyers, No. 1 in the Post-Dispatch large-schools rankings and No. 1 in The Associated Press Class 7A state poll, improved to 9-2 overall with their ninth straight victory.
East St. Louis, the defending 7A state champion, now travels to meet Southwestern Conference foe O'Fallon next weekend. The day and time of the game will be announced Monday. The teams last met Sept. 25, when the Flyers blanked the Panthers 44-0.
When asked why Stewart had not played since the third game of the season, East St. Louis coach Darren Sunkett said, "We don't want to go into that. Stewart played and he played well. Let's just go there. We're not even going to talk about all of that. He played and he played well. That's what we need from guys. Each week, we've got new guys stepping up and playing football."
Last week when Molton went down with his sprained ankle, Jeremy Nicholson rushed for 174 yards and two touchdowns in the Flyers' 50-43 first-round win over Bourbonnais.
This week, Stewart answered the call, scoring on runs of 16, 5 and 43 yards. Quarterback Detchauz Wray ran for one touchdown on a 1-yard sneak, and threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jylon Spraggins. Spraggins also scooped up a Nicholson fumble in stride and had a 29-yard touchdown. Duke Robinson returned a kickoff 86 yards for a score.
Although he did have a slight limp, Molton did play, rushing five times for 30 yards.
"We just wanted to test (Molton) to see what he looked like," Sunkett said. "We're looking for him later on down the line. He's still a little gimpy. We saw he's a little tender, got him out of there and went with our backups."
Minooka, which entered the game running the ball 85 percent of the time, had trouble on the ground most of the game. In fact, the Indians didn't get their first first down until the 9:30 mark of the third quarter.
Minooka's Kyle Banks scored a touchdown on a 74-yard double reverse with 8 minutes, 40 seconds to go in the second quarter to cut the Flyers' 14-0 lead to 14-7.
But Spraggins recovered Nicholson's fumble at the Minooka 29-yard-line and scored untouched with 7:15 remaining in the half to give East St. Louis a 21-7 halftime lead.
"Who can't run for 'em?" asked Indians coach Bert Kooi, when asked about the Flyers' running depth. "They're a good football team. They're a very good football team. They are the defending state champs. Those are the kinds of things to expect when you play a team like that."
