East St. Louis Flyers

The East St. Louis Flyers look to start 2011 new and fresh and put the problems of 2010 behind them. On the field the Flyers were 10-0, but because of forfeits due to recruiting violations the official IHSA record shows 4-6. East Side scored 458 points to 92 against, what averages out to a 46-9 per game margin. Coach Darren Sunkett’s win-loss record now stands at 83-24 (.776) with one state championship (2008) after 9 seasons of taking the helm at ESL. Those are great numbers, but It is hard for anyone to compare to the 193-32 (.858) record with six championships and eight title appearances that Bob Shannon had in his twenty year career.

Filled with Potential Recruits

Potential college recruit Lamontiez Ivy (6’3 - 220 lb) returns at Quarterback with RB Jeremy Nicholson (RB - 5’8 - 170 lb) and WR Denis Harris (6’2 - 190 lb) also drawing attention. Ivy performed well at QB last year while completing 61.1 percent of his passes for 1,770 yards and 18 TD’s against five INT’s. The Southwestern Conference is a big conference with a lot of top athletes and in 2010 Ivy was honored with first-team all conference on offense at QB while Dennis Harris was second team selection at Tight-End. Junior linebacker Marvin Holley (5’10 - 175 lb) was also an all-conference selection on the second team defense.

Issues with the IHSA

East St. Louis had to forfeit 10 victories from the 2009 season, five victories from the 2010 season and be removed from the 2010 IHSA Football Playoffs because the use of an ineligible player. Due to a ruling from the St. Clair County’s 20th Judical Court, the IHSA had to put East St. Louis back in the bracket to play its first round playoff game to allow for additional due process. In addition, another player was ruled ineligible because of a residency issue.

National Level Games to Start the Year

The season starts August 27th with an 8 p.m. game against North Gwinnett High, of Suwanee (GA), that will be played as part of a doubleheader of the Progressive National Football Challenge. The opponent is from the Atlanta region and has been successful with a 46-7 five year span, including a 12-1 record last year. September fourth brings the 2nd annual City of Champions Classic at Clyde C. Jordan Stadium, which will include Jefferson City (MO) vs. Chicago Simeon at 2 p.m., Memphis Whitehaven vs. Chicago St. Rita at 5 p.m., and Gardner-Edgerton (Kansas) vs. East St. Louis at 8 p.m. The East St. Louis City of Champons Classic was created by two former Flyers (Dana Howard and Julyon Brown) to showcase inner city football talent in a big stage atmosphere.

Enrollment drops

East St. Louis seen its football enrollment drop in 2011 to 1564 from the 2010 numbers of 2146. This is mostly due to a change in the way enrollment numbers are reported to the IHSA in 2011 compared to previous years and this affected many schools. Previous enrollment numbers included an extra variable added to the total enrollment titled “Students Out” by the Illinois Board of Education. Last year East St. Louis had one of the highest numbers in the state in this students out field with 449 students, so this accounts for the large decrease of students in the enrollment numbers. Nearly six hundred students didn’t leave the school in late September, it is simply a number accounting thing that will be leveled out next year. The Flyers however are one of the few schools to ask to be bumped up a class so even though they stand right now on the Class 5A/6A border, they can request to be included in the Class 7A bracket. No matter what class they decide to play in, they will be a challenge to line up against.