Alton Rolls at Home

ALTON — When Tim Johnson missed the first quarter for the Alton Redbirds on Friday night, a viable option was needed to carry the rock.

Senior Dasani Stewart was more than capable.

Stewart set the tempo running for 72 first-quarter yards before Johnson came in and dixon all his damage in the second quarter. Stewart finished with a career-high 258 rushing yards on 18 carries and three scores as Alton made it two in a row by blasting Collinsville, 58-6, in a nonconference game at Public School Stadium.

Alton coach Eric Dickerson disciplined the junior Johnson for a practice mishap and sat him the first quarter, and Stewart was more than capable of picking up the load. When Johnson came in and put in a night’s work with 92 yards and four touchdown runs on 13 second-quarter carries, it gave the Redbirds (2-1) a solid 1-2 punch.

“I believe in the O-line and I knew if I could make plays, when [Johnson] got in, he can make plays and we always compete with each other,” Stewart said. “I knew that I had to set the standard tonight because we had some adversity earlier (in the week) in practice, but o knew when he got in, he was going to turn it on.”

And when Johnson got in, he provided some fresh legs and scored four times from 15, 1, 1 and 5 yards out during Alton’s 35-point outburst to turn a 9-0 first quarter lead into 44-6 at halftime.

“It excites me,” Johnson said. “When [Stewart] goes out and I see him do something like that, that just makes me want to compete. I’m going to come out and try doing the same thing he’s doing.”

As a team, Alton ran it for 404 yards as a team, including 350 from Stewart and Johnson.

“We came out with something we wanted to prove tonight as far as offensively goes,” Dickerson said. “I think the opening drive and the first quarter helped us out a lot.

“We’ve seen in practice what these two guys (can do). We’ve waited for our offensive line to click. They don’t need a lot of opening in there with their quick bursts. Dasani’s got that speed and Tim’s a very strong runner.”

After Stewart scored on a 36-yard run in the first to make it 7-0 with 6 minutes 38 seconds left, Alton scored on a safety to make it 9-0.

Johnson’s first score from 15 yards with 10:59 left in the second pushed the lead to 17-0.

Collinsville (0-3) got it’s only score from Jauden Nabors, a 71-yard score on 4th-and-1 from it’s own 29 to grab some momentum to make it 17-6, but Alton answered quickly on another Johnson 1-yard run with 6:10 left in the second to make it 24-6. That score started a string of four TD’s in 5:54 and included a 3-yard run from Bobby Smith.

The only two touchdowns in the second half were scored by Stewart, from 44 yards out in the third with 8:47 left to make it 51-6 and an 81-yard burst in the fourth quarter with 5:16 to play to make it 58-6 to complete Stewart’s career night.

“Whoa,” Stewart said when told of his rushing stats. “I feel great. When we’re both going like that, it gives (the opposition) a lot of extra to think about.”

Defensively, Alton was solid again. It limited Collinsville to 137 yards of total offense, including just 14 in the air.

“Trent Morgan has been calling some wonderful games there up in the booth as defensive coordinator,” Dickerson said. “They’ve done a great job. They’ve just answered the bell every time we’ve asked them to. It’s nice to get some good field position for our offense and keep them in check. Take away that one big play, I don’t think they had too many yards.”