Senior receiver’s breakout night lifts Belleville East past West, into playoff picture

Belleville East coach Michael Harrison and his staff have been waiting all season for senior wide receiver Xavien Moody to have a breakout game for the Lancers.

On Friday night, it finally happened.

Moody, a compact and lightning-fast wideout, hauled in two touchdown passes from junior quarterback Kaden Wood, and ran for a dazzling 34-yard touchdown, to power East to a 38-14 homecoming win over crosstown rival Belleville West.

It was a fun night for Moody, who had not reached the end zone before Friday’s big-time performance.

“That’s what we practice with (the screen game) a lot, and we did it during summer ball. We just executed it today,” Moody said. “I have to give credit to my teammates Keithen (Jones) and James (Johnson), who headed down there with key blocks for me to get in.

“It’s a lot of fun when I can get in there and do that.”

Belleville East, (5-3, 3-2), which became IHSA playoff eligible with the win, took a 3-0 lead on a 32-yard Grayson Parker field goal late in the first quarter.

The Lancers then recovered an onside kick from West on the ensuing kickoff. Three plays later, Moody scored on a slick 33-yard catch and run for a touchdown from Wood making it 10-0 with 2:40 left in the first quarter.

A Jaedon Beamon 1-yard touchdown run pushed the lead to 17-0 in the second quarter. Belleville West (3-5, 1-4) got on the board late in the second quarter thanks to an Isaiah Williams 4-yard touchdown run.

East responded with a quick two-score flurry that knocked the Maroons on their heels.

Wood connected with Moody for an 8-yard scoring pass on the next drive and then East standout junior defensive lineman Jonathan Rulo took a handoff and broke five tackles to score from 4 yards out.

That made the Lancers’ halftime lead, 31-7.

Rulo relished scoring a big-man touchdown in the red zone.

“We over it a little bit in practice this week, so I knew it was coming,” Rulo said. “When I got it, I heard them coming and I was trying to get outside. They didn’t wrap up, so it was easy for me to get upfield. Coach preaches north and south, so I got outside and I got vertical.”

Moody capped off his big night with an eye-catching 34-yard run to the endzone, extending the lead to 38-7 with 9:06 left in the third quarter.

Harrison was happy to see Moody’s big play skills come to life on Homecoming night.

“Moody, we’ve been really waiting for him to get into the end zone all year and he’s had some good games but we hadn’t quite got into the end zone yet,” Harrison said. “We knew he was due for one, so it was nice for him to be able to cap off his senior year homecoming game and make sure he got into the end zone tonight.”

While East enjoyed the night, it was an uphill climb for Belleville West coach Ken Turner’s team. The Maroons fell out of playoff contention in falling to 3-5 (1-4).

“I thought they were more physical than we were,” Turner said. “Their quarterback did a good job of making throws. Moody is an explosive player that we didn’t have answers for tonight.”

West got their final touchdown on a 10-yard Caiden Capell to Nick Hankins pass with 5:30 left.

In other area action, Althoff rolled past Granite City 55-6 on the road, East St. Louis defeated Edwardsville at home 14-7, and O’Fallon lost at home to Alton 30-17.