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ALTON – Senior running back Dasani Stewart ran for a career-high 258 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns, while junior Tim Johnson carried 13 times for 92 yards and four touchdowns – all in the second quarter – as Alton defeated Collinsville 58-6 in a week three game Friday night at Public School Stadium.
Both Stewart and Johnson gave the Redbirds’ running game a potent combo as Alton exploded for 35 points in the second term to take a 44-6 lead into the locker rooms at halftime. In all, the Redbirds ran for 404 in the game.
“It was a good win to have,” said Alton head coach Eric Dickerson. “We definitely got our running game going, and it was something we wanted to work on this week. Both Dasani and Tim had a lot of yards, and Dasani had some good runs for us.”
Indeed, Stewart did, rushing for 79 yards in the first quarter, opening the scoring with a 36-yard touchdown run with 6;38 left to make it 7-0 for the Redbirds. After a safety made it 9-0, Johnson scored his first touchdown on a 15-yard jaunt early in the second to make it 17-0 after a two-point conversion was successful.
The Kahoks got their only touchdown on a 71-yard run by Jauden Nabors, but from there, it was all Alton, as Johnson scored on a pair of one-yard runs, and Bobby Smith scored from three yards out and Johnson’s fourth touchdown on a five-yard run to make the score 44-6 at halftime.
The only scores of the second half were by Stewart, who had touchdown runs of 44 and 81 yards to complete his big night as the Redbirds took the 58-6 win.
The thing that Dickerson was most pleased with was that it was a complete team win for Alton.
“Anytime you get a win, it’s a good feeling,” Dickerson said, “and we cut down on our mistakes from last week, so we got better. Everybody played well, it was a team victory, and Andrew (Jones, the Redbird quarterback) did a good job of commanding our offense. It was just a good overall win.”
The Redbirds go to 2-1 on the season and opens its Southwestern Conference schedule at Edwardsville next Friday night at 7 p.m. Dickerson knows the task that lies ahead for his team.
“We’re going to watch film, and get ready for them,” Dickerson said. “Edwardsville always has good athletes, a good line and a solid defense, so we’ll just get ready for them.”
