O’FALLON – The Alton High School football team survived a crazy final three minutes of the fourth quarter, which featured a 20-minute delay when the lights were automatically turned off, as the Redbirds won over O’Fallon 41-36 in a Southwestern Conference game Friday night at Panther Stadium.
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The delay, caused at 10 p.m. when the stadium’s lights were automatically turned off by a timer, was the climax of the final part of the game, which featured four turnovers – two by both teams – as the Redbirds won a close game.
Alton spotted the Panthers a 9-0 lead on a first possession touchdown and a safety, but were able to bounce back on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Jones to Lonnie Tate, then after O’Fallon went up 16-7, a pair of 80 yard touchdown drives, climaxed by Jones passing 19 yards to Javion Morgan, and Bobby Smith going up the middle one yard on a touchdown set up by a 49-yard screen pass from Jones to Tim Johnson, gave Alton a 20-16 lead at halftime.
The two sides exchanged touchdowns in the third quarter, with the Redbirds taking back the lead at 27-23 on a 20-yard pass to Alero Watson, then Alton went up 34-23 on a 15-yard pass from Jones to Tate, set up by a 66-yard run by Dasani Stewart.
Johnson ran 21 yards for a touchdown with 4:38 left in regulation, but on a first down play with 3:12 left, Bryce Coley returned a fumble 10 yards for a touchdown to make it 41-36, setting up the wild finish after the power failure. Eventually, Aamir Gage intercepted a pass with 1:05 to go, sealing the win for the Redbirds.
Johnson ran for 155 yards on the night, with Jones going 12-of-18 passing for 164 yards and four touchdowns. The Redbirds gained 445 yard total on the night.
Alton improved to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the SWC, and hosts Belleville East next Friday night at Public School Stadium. Kickoff time is set for 7 p.m. The Panthers are also 3-3, 1-2 in the league, and hosts East St. Louis next Saturday afternoon in a 2 p.m. kickoff.
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