ALTON – Homecomings are always special times, especially at the high school level.
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Marquette's homecoming celebration certainly was a special one for the Explorers Saturday afternoon, thanks to a 101-yard rushing day for Brady McAfee and a 106-yard pass reception day for Jesse Simmons as they marked the occasion with a 38-6 win over East Alton-Wood River at Public School Stadium.
The win was Marquette's third in a row after getting off to an 0-2 start; they also went to 3-0 in the Prairie State Conference. The Oilers fell to 0-5, 0-3 in the PSC.
“The offense produced for a lot of different guys today,” said Explorer coach Darrell Angelton. “Trey (Aguirre, the Explorer quarterback) was really accurate today. Once we got the wind, things settled down. That's a nice thing to have; we've got a lot of tools and we've got a couple of different ways we can attack.
“One of the advantages we have is that we have a lot of reads built in to each play we run. For example, if we see something, we can change it and throw off of it.”
The Oiler defense actually did a very good job, considering the circumstances, felt EA-WR coach Garry Herron. “Our defense played very well; I was really impressed,” Herron said. “We had a game plan for them and they followed it pretty much to a T. They had one or two long runs where we just missed tackles on them; we make those tackles, we limit them to about a one-yard run or get them in the backfield.
SEE PHOTO GALLERY OF HOMECOMING COURT:
“Our defense was on the field pretty much 75 percent of the first half and you just can't have that and win games. We gave them some good field position, but our kids on defense really played hard all day.”
The Oilers also had two key injuries in the game; sophomore quarterback Justin Engler was taken out after a neck injury in the first quarter, but the injury wasn't serious. The other injury was senior running back/linebacker Blake Stone, who suffered a broken leg on a play in the second quarter. Stone was taken to St. Anthony's Health Center in Alton for evaluation and did not return.
Watch the entire East Alton Wood River @ Marquette game.
The field position certainly helped the Explorers; they took a 14-0 lead in the opening term thanks to a nine-yard run from D'Avion Peebles and a three-yard jaunt from McAfee. Jesse Simmons scored twice on 30- and 32-yard touchdown passes from Aguirre, who went 14-for-24 for 168 yards on the day, and also got a 46-yard field goal from Liam Maher.
The Oilers got their only score on a last-play four-yard run from Luke Wells.
Next up for the Explorers is a 1 p.m. Oct. 3 game at Pawnee for what could be the PSC championship, while the Oilers travel to Metro East Lutheran-Madison for a 7 p.m. Friday clash with the Knights in Edwardsville.
