COLLINSVILLE - Rodrigo Hernandez-Mendoza scored a brace (two goals), and it was enough to give host Collinsville a 2-0 win over a tough Alton team in the IHSA Class 3A regional semifinal Tuesday night, Oct. 21, 2025, at Kahok Stadium in Collinsville.
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The win put the Kahoks into the final against Edwardsville, a 3-0 winner over Belleville East in the first semifinal, on Saturday afternoon in a 1 p.m. kickoff.
Both teams worked very hard throughout the well-played game, and it was the Kahoks who came up with the goals needed to advance.
“We feel good,” said Collinsville head coach Rob Lugge. “It always feels good to win a regional game. We had some opportunities, we really played well in the first 10 minutes of the game, scored a goal, then Allton turned it one, and they were really coming after us.
"They played really well for the last 25 minutes of the first half, and they were putting us under some pressure. So we discussed, made some tactical adjustments at halftime, and while it wasn’t a great half for us, it was much better keeping the ball, playing simple. So, we’re happy, there are things we have to sort out before Saturday, but a win’s a win, and we’re ready to move on.”
And in the postseason, surviving, winning, and advancing is the key thing.
“Yeah, that's the thing as a coach,’ Lugge said with a smile, “you should be happy with the win, but you start thinking about what you have to fix for the next game. So, we’ll take a couple of hours, enjoy it, and then start to watch the film, and go from there.”
Both of Herrnandez-Mendoza’s goals were very good goals, and were partially created by his hard work.
“Rodrigo, he’s one of the hardest working players I know,” Lugge said. “He puts himself in good position through movement, and just hard work, and if he would score on a third of the chances he gets, he would score a lot of goals,” he said. “We’re just fortunate to have him and his effort. Like I said, he puts himself in the right place at the right time, and tonight, he finished two goals for us.”
Lugge is definitely looking ahead to Saturday’s final against the Tigers.
“It’s going to be a good game,” Lugge said. “It’s two quality teams; we split with them this year. We got them early, and they got us pretty bad at their place. So, hopefully, we can be prepared, come ready to work hard, play simple, and hopefully give them a good game.”
The Kahoks had the much better of the play during the opening minutes, and their efforts paid off in the 12th minute, when Hernandez-Mendoza headed home a good crossing pass to put Collinsville into the lead at 1-0.
The rest of the half, the Alton defense held up well against the Kahoks’ attacks, and the offense almost equalized in the 17th minute, when Nik Tuetken got a great ball first time, but shot wide, preserving the Kahok lead. Hernandez-Mendoza and Gauge Hensley had good chances late for Collinsville, but Henesey put a stop to those plans with a pair of great saves to keep the score 1-0 for Collinsville at the interval.
Collinsville had three early chances at the outset of the second half, but Henesey and the Alton defense kept the Kahoks at bay. Hernandez-Mendoza final broke through in the 54th minute, tapping in a good pass into the goal to double Collinsville’s lead at 2-0. The Redbirds never gave up, and kept plugging away, having some good chances, but couldn’t solve the Collinsville defense, as the Kahoks took the 2-0 win to advance.
The Redbirds finish their season at 6-14-0, while the Kahoks at now 11-10-1, and will play Edwardsville in the final Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. The winner goes on to play the O’Fallon regional winner in the Peoria Notre Dame Catholic sectional at a site to be announced on Oct. 28 at 5 p.m., with the winner going on to the sectional final Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m.
The sectional winner plays the Naperville North sectional winner in the Normal Community super-sectional Nov. 4 at 5 p.m., with the super-sectional winner advancing to the state finals Nov. 7-8 at Hoffman Estates High School in northwest suburban Chicago.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
