Hill has big night as Althoff claims city bragging rights against Belleville East (original) (raw)

The Battle of Belleville resumed after 29 years at Township Stadium Friday night and the Althoff Crusaders embraced the challenge.

Down 7-0 in the first quarter, Dierre Hill, Althoff’s standout senior running back, ripped off a pair of long touchdown runs, and the Crusaders erupted for 35 first-half points in rolling to a 49-21 win over Belleville East before a packed house.

Hill said he and his teammates were fueled by a nostalgic crowd of spectators at Township Stadium.

“Honestly, it was an amazing feeling,” he said after the win. “It was a lot of fans here and I felt the energy coming from the crowd. It was amazing just being in this atmosphere today.”

Hill, who has committed to play next season at the University of Oregon, had arguably the best game of his career with 311 yards on just 11 carries and four touchdowns.

“I’ve seen him do some really cool stuff but that was special tonight, I thought,” Frazier said. “Just the make-you-miss and break tackles in that first half. There have been some great performances by running backs in Township Stadium, but I’ll put that one up against anybody’s.”

September 13, 2024 - Belleville, IL - Belleville East Jaedon Beamon (0) runs the ball during a boys football game between Althoff and Belleville East on Friday Sept 13, 2024 at SWIC Southwestern in Belleville IL. [Photo: Jimmy Simmons] Jimmy Simmons Jimmy Simmons

Belleville East coach Michael Harrison felt his club played the Crusaders tough throughout the night, but Hill’s unique talents are what made the difference in the outcome.

“He’s a Division I recruit going to Oregon and he showed everybody why tonight,” Harrison said.

“Honestly, I think that was the difference in the ballgame. He’s a heckuva a ballplayer and outside of that it was an evenly matched ball game.”

The teams swapped scores early on. East (2-1) got the early lead on a 65-yard touchdown run by Jaedon Beamon, which Althoff’s Steven Brown answered on a 65-yard scoring run on the ensuing kickoff.

September 13, 2024 - Belleville, IL - Belleville East Devon Taylor (21) carries the ball during a boys football game between Althoff and Belleville East on Friday Sept 13, 2024 at SWIC Southwestern in Belleville IL. [Photo: Jimmy Simmons] Jimmy Simmons Jimmy Simmons

Althoff quarterback Jaydon Ellington later connected with Charleston Coldon on a 27-yard scoring pass to give Althoff its first lead of the night, 13-7, but East took it right back with a 5-yard touchdown by Beamon, his second of the night.

That’s when Hill took control.

Touchdown runs of 56 and 88 yards pushed the Althoff lead to 28-14 with 1:14 left in the first quarter. The Crusaders (3-0) held the lead the rest of the night.

“What changed for us is we got even more hungry than we already were and we saw they weren’t going down without a fight and we weren’t going down without a fight either,” Hill. “We just showed that we were a bigger team and we just succeeded in that.”

East scored again with 8:55 left in the first half on a 20-yard Kingston Jones to Kyle Henry touchdown pass.

September 13, 2024 - Belleville, IL -Belleville East Machai Henderson (22) breaks away from Althoff Stephen Ache (18) during a boys football game between Althoff and Belleville East on Friday Sept 13, 2024 at SWIC Southwestern in Belleville IL. [Photo: Jimmy Simmons] Jimmy Simmons Jimmy Simmons

Again, Hill responded with his third touchdown of the night, a 68-yard change of direction run. Ellington finished off the 35-point first-half blitz with an 8-yard quarterback keeper run that put the Crusaders in control, 42-21.

Hill scored his fourth and final touchdown of the night on a slick 18-yard cross-field run to make it 49-21 with 11:22 to go.

September 13, 2024 - Belleville, IL - Althoff Dierre Hill Jr. (10) runs the ball during a boys football game between Althoff and Belleville East on Friday Sept 13, 2024 at SWIC Southwestern in Belleville IL. [Photo: Jimmy Simmons] Jimmy Simmons Jimmy Simmons

Althoff Catholic coach Austin Frazier was pleased with his team’s response to the early challenge East provided.

”We knew there was gonna be some adversity in this game, however it was going to play out, and we wanted to embrace it,” Frazier said. You don’t get better from not having conflict. You’ve got to grow from that, so I was happy with the way the guys responded.”

The Crusaders’ defense – led by Mizzou recruit Jason Dowell, Steven Ache, and Cooper Zimmer – kept the Laners from reaching the end zone in the second half.

“We had to make a couple of adjustments and got into a different run fit scheme to protect us against some of their zone runs and we responded well but because of what East did (in the first half) we have some work to do,” Frazier said.

In other action, Belleville West shut out Normandy 55-0.

September 13, 2024 - Belleville, IL - Althoff Jayden Ellington (6) carries the ball during a boys football game between Althoff and Belleville East on Friday Sept 13, 2024 at SWIC Southwestern in Belleville IL. [Photo: Jimmy Simmons] Jimmy Simmons Jimmy Simmons

This story was originally published September 14, 2024, 7:38 AM.