East St. Louis Moves To Winning Record After Shutout Win Over Edwardsville

EDWARDSVILLE – East St. Louis scored on their first four possessions, ran an interception back for. a touchdown, and thoroughly were the dominant team as the Flyers defeated Edwardsville 54-0 in a week six Southwestern Conference game Friday night, Oct. 3, 2025, at Tiger Stadium.The Tigers also lost starting quarterback Yale Weaver to injury in the first quarter, and didn’t come back. Back-up quarterback Dean Williams came in and played well, but it was a night the Flyers couldn’t be stopped.

The Tigers go to 2-4 on the season, but all is not lost for Edwardsville, and there are three weeks left in the regular season, with a game next week at O’Fallon, a home tilt against Alton, and the regular season finale at DeSmet Jesuit of St. Louis County.

“Sure. That’s the goal,” said Tigers head coach Kelsey Pickering. “And we’re going to regroup, get back to it on Monday, and finish out the season strong,:

The Flyers struck on their first possession, only needing six plays to score, with Myson Cook-Johnson going in from five yards out to give East Side a 6-0 lead after a blocked conversion. During the Tigers’ opening drive, Weaver was injured and replaced by Williams, and ended on a fourth down pass that was intercepted by Phillop White, who took the ball back to the Tigers 15. From there, it only took East Side two plays to score, with quarterback Reece Shanklin taking it in from eight yards out to give the Flyers a 13-0 lead after the convert.

East St. Louis had another short field to work on after recovering a bad snap on a punt on the Edwardsville nine, and Shanklin hit Amir Tillman from 11 yards out to give the Flyers a 19-0 lead after the conversion was blocked, The Flyers got the ball back, and took seven plays to score, with Shanklin passing 36 yards to Kortez Rupert to increase the East Side lead to 25-0,

On the next play, White intercepted another pass, and took it back all the way for a touchdown to make it 33-0 after a two-point conversion try was run in by Tillman. Late in the first half, after stopping a promising Edwardsville drive that saw the Tigers' running game, led by Williams and Rayqwon Wallace, have success, the Flyers scored with 12.9 seconds left on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Shaklin to Jamarion Flowers to give the Flyers a 41-0 halftime lead after Tillman ran in another two-point run. The halftime lead triggered the second half running clock rule.

East Side scored twice in the second half, on an eight-yard run by Cook-Johnson in the third quarter, and an 81-yard run down the far sideline, also by Cook-Johnson, to give the Flyers the 54-0 win.

The Flyers now go to 3-2 on the season, and in their final three games, play at Belleville East next Friday, host O’Fallon on Oct. 17, and close out the season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., on Oct. 25. The games against East and O’Fallon start at 7 p.m., while the game against IMG starts at 6 p.m., Central time.

The Tigres go to 2-4, and play at O’Fallon next week, host Alton on Oct. 17, and finish the regular season at DeSmet Oct. 24. All games start at 7 p.m.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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