Blue Devils kick into high gear, pull away from Redbirds over final three quarters for another victory

QUINCY — Alton matched the Quincy High School football team big play for big play through the opening 12 minutes Friday night.

The final 36 minutes, not so much.

The Blue Devils clung to a slim 14-13 lead after a slog of a first quarter that took 50 minutes to play because of penalties, incomplete passes, turnovers and four combined touchdowns at Flinn Stadium.

However, their defense stiffened and yielded no more points, and their quick-strike capabilities produced three touchdowns during an eight-minute stretch in the second period en route to a 42-13 victory.

“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Alton,” QHS coach Rick Little said. “They’ve always had kids that can be athletic and make plays. But the thing we take pride in is that we think we can do it consecutively, that we can keep putting these drives together.

“Sometimes the challenge is that you can do it once, but can you keep doing it? So, obviously, through 48 minutes, we found out that answer.”

Quarterback Bradyn Little threw for 333 yards and four touchdowns and running back Jeraius Rice Jr. had 262 all-purpose yards and two scores to help the Blue Devils improve to 2-0 heading into their Western Big 6 Conference opener next Friday at home against Rock Island.

It was their fourth straight victory in the series with Alton, and they have now outscored the Redbirds 130-35 in the past three meetings.

For a while, though, it appeared the game could turn into a surprising shootout.

Little found a wide-open Rico Clay streaking down the far sideline for a 50-yard scoring strike just 55 seconds into the game. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting forced QHS to kick off from its own 25-yard-line, but Cole Burgess recovered an onside kick at the 47.

The Blue Devils were forced to punt, however, and Alton quarterback Riley Smith used his arm and legs to take the Redbirds 81 yards in just five plays to tie it at 7.

Four plays later, QHS was back in front when Bradyn Little hit Tykell Hammers in the right flat and the senior wide receiver weaved his way through traffic to score from 46 yards out. Hammers finished the night with six catches for 119 yards.

The Blue Devils then forced a short punt and took over on the Redbirds’ 35 but gained just 1 yard on four plays to turn the ball over on downs and squander a golden scoring opportunity.

Alton took advantage, converting on a third-and-20 play from its own 24 before Smith found Travis Billups for a 46-yard completion to the QHS 3-yard line. Andrew Williams scored from there to make it a one-point game after the extra point was blocked.

Smith completed 13 of 19 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game with an injury early in the third quarter. He also was sacked five times for minus-43 yards in the first half.

“Before you know it, you’re like, ‘We’re in a dogfight here,’ ” Rick Little said. “Alton did a good job of slowing us up a little bit because they were bringing more guys than we could block. And we started seeing some little things on defense that were getting in the way.”

That changed in the second quarter.

Two plays after taking over on their own 9, Rice burst through the line of scrimmage and raced 63 yards before being forced out of bounds at the Redbirds’ 19. Two plays later, Bradyn Little found Rice in the right flat and he juked a defender to score from the 10 to make it 21-13.

“We like to get in and get out,” Rice said of the explosive QHS offense.

He epitomized that by rushing for 136 yards on 11 carries, catching five passes for 52 more and returning two kickoffs for 74 yards.

“I grew up in the days of Roger Craig and Marshall Faulk where the guy’s not just a running back, he’s also a receiver,” Rick Little said of Rice. “He’s a guy we like to throw the ball to. It seems like every week he’s doing a really good job of being a bell cow, being a guy that makes plays.”

QHS needed just three plays to go 55 yards on its next possession, with Bradyn Little hooking up with a wide-open Clay on a crossing pattern in the end zone from the 10 to make it 28-13 with 5:45 left in the first half. Clay caught six passes for 101 yards.

Defensive back Carter Hildebrand then intercepted a fourth-down heave from Smith at his own 26 two-and-a-half minutes later and followed a convoy of blockers down the near sideline for a 74-yard score to make it 35-13.

“The coaches were telling me to stay deep and make a play on it,” Hildebrand said. “We knew we could make plays in the secondary if we could just put some pressure on (Smith).”

“I was proud of him because, one, he’s a very good player, and two, he’s a very disciplined player,” Rick Little said of Hildebrand. “He played it perfectly. It was almost like a punt return for him.”

The only score in the second half came two minutes into the fourth quarter when Rice scored from a yard out. The QHS defense limited Alton to just 53 yards of its 215 offensive yards in the second half. The Redbirds rushed for just six yards on 33 attempts overall.

The Blue Devils, who had 468 yards of offense, will now begin defense of their WB6 title.

“For us it’s a big deal,” Rick Little said. “We want to win the conference again. We were the kind of interesting, fun, young team laying in the weeds, and we snuck up on people. Well, we’re no longer that team. We’re gonna get everybody’s best effort.”