Two Colliers lead Saints

Two Colliers lead Saints

Brothers Kevin and Averin Collier combined for over 500 yards of total offense, all five Saints touchdowns and two, two-point conversions as Churchville-Chili defeated Hilton 35-27 in high school football.

The game looked to be getting out of reach early as Kevin Collier, who has made a verbal commitment to play at the University of Pittsburgh next fall, staked the Saints to a 26-0 lead with three of his touchdowns. The first came when he carried the ball for all eight plays of an 80-yard scoring drive capped by his five-yard touchdown run. The second score came on the first play of the second quarter when Saints quarterback Chris Ross hooked up with Averin Collier on a 60-yard pass.

The third touchdown of the half came on Kevin's 72-yard run featuring a reverse of direction. A two-point conversion pass from Ross to Averin made up for an earlier missed extra point. Kevin scored again to make it 26-0 before Hilton regrouped.

Just before the half, Cadets quarterback Alex Coffey hooked up with wide receiver Shane Smith on consecutive passes of 12 and 3 yards, respectively. Running back Eric Rogers ran for ten of his game total of 88 yards before Coffey found Smith again for a 21-yard gain to the Saints 22 yard line. Coffey then passed to D'Angelo Williams who out-jumped the defender at the pylon for the score.

Hilton's defense held on the first drive of the second half. Then Coffey led a scoring drive highlighted by his 19-yard pass to Smith and a 20-yard scoring strike to Andy Eichas to make the score 27-14. Another defensive stop allowed the Cadets offense to score again - this time with Coffey finding Scott Allis on a 14-yard pass after scrambling away from pressure to cut the lead to six points.

The Saints then methodically put the game out of reach on a 13-play scoring drive reaching into the fourth quarter. Kevin Collier ran every play - 94 yards in all due to penalties - to push the Saints lead back to 14 points. Hilton's Rogers scored late on a two-yard plunge on a drive featuring a 26-yard, fourth down completion from Coffey to Allis. The extra point attempt hit the crossbar and the Saints led by eight.

Another Cadet defensive on fourth down by Eichas and Joe Rotella gave them the ball at their own 12 with 1:34 remaining. Coffey found Eichas on a fourth down completion and Smith for 17-yards to the 48 yard line, but the drive was stopped after four incomplete passes.

Kevin Collier carried 41 times for 387 yards - the fifth highest one-game total in Section Five history. Averin Collier caught three passes for 109 yards and Ross was 3-8 for 122 yards passing.

For Hilton, Coffey was 18-35 for 257 yards passing. Smith had 9 catches for 123 yards and Allis caught four balls for 74 yards.