West Lauderdale scored twice in the first 58 seconds of the game and never looked back as it cruised past cross-county rival Northeast Lauderdale 49-21 on Thursday night in Collinsville.

    The win marks the seventh straight year the Knights have bested the Trojans and sends West into the offseason with momentum after a lackluster 2-9 (1-4 in Division 5-4A) year. Northeast still leads the overall series 26-20-2.

    “We ended well,” said West coach Glen Sanders. “We played hard and we had a lot of fun at practice this week. They were very loose tonight and came out with a lot of enthusiasm and ready to play. It’s going to make working out in the offseason a little easier. They will remember this.”

    West set up shop at the Northeast 33 after a 67-yard return on the opening kickoff. Two plays later, running back Robert Sillimon went untouched up the middle for a 16-yard touchdown run.

    On the Trojans’ first play on the ensuing possession, West cornerback Jalen Terrell stepped in front of a Alex Nicholson pass and went 59 yards down to the Northeast 1. Sillimon plunged in on the next play. It was Terrell’s first of two picks on the night.

    “It started with the opening kickoff and just snowballed from there,” said Northeast coach Steve Nelson. “That has been the story of our whole season.

    “We better do a lot during the offseason. We have got to get better and we have to get a lot stronger. We have to get mentally tougher and we have to really want it.”

    NEL ends its season 1-10, 0-5.

    The Knights defense went back to work forcing forcing turnovers on the Trojans next two possessions and stretched their lead out to three scores with 2:42 remaining on Shydai Lewis’ 5-yard touchdown run.

    “They ran hard tonight,” added Sanders of his rushing tandem. “We found a couple of plays that we could have success with. We had good blocking.”

    Northeast briefly cut the lead to 21-7 on its next series, marching 82 yards on 15 plays that was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Nicholson.

    Unfortunately for the Trojans, the Knights would score twice more before the half on a 6-yard run by Sillimon and a 25-yard scoring strike from quarterback Daniel Lott to Deondre Williams.

    Northeast opened up the second half with a 76-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Josh Everett.

    West rounded out its scoring on a 60-yard punt return by Williams in the third quarter and a 12-yard run by Lewis in the fourth. Northeast got a 7-yard scoring run from Johnny McDonald with 5:01 left in the contest.

    McDonald finished the night with 26 carries for 131 yards for the Trojans, while Sillimon rushed eight times for 91 yards and three scores. Lewis gained 74 yards on six carries with two touchdowns.