Thies Brothers Lead Way in Fenwick 6A Title over East St. Louis

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6A state championship game was supposed to be a crowning of East St. Louis.&nbsp; If I told you they out gained Fenwick 512 yards to 292 yards and had the ball for almost twice the amount of time you would say East St. Louis won going away.&nbsp; That did not happen.&nbsp; Fenwick upset East St. Louis 38-28 to win the state championship.&nbsp; We tell you why and how here!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Thies Brothers Show Out for Fenwick on Both Sides of Ball</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What a performance by Miami (OH) safety commit [player_tooltip player_id='279386' first='Tommy' last='Thies'] and his younger brother 2027 running back/safety [player_tooltip player_id='811647' first='Jake' last='Thies'].&nbsp; Let's start with [player_tooltip player_id='811647' first='Jake' last='Thies'].&nbsp; He was the leading tackler in the game with 19 tackles, top rusher with 100 yards along with 2 touchdowns, and also the top pass catcher with 61 yards through the air.&nbsp; To make it even more of an epic performance Jake had the game clinching interception with his team up 3 with under 3 minutes to go that he almost took back to the house leading to the ultimate dagger score.&nbsp; Absolutely incredible game.&nbsp; He was all over the place defensively flying around making plays on the back end with his sound mechanics.&nbsp; Offensively he was the man every time he touched it including a 74 yard touchdown on the first play after East St. Louis took the lead.&nbsp; [player_tooltip player_id='279386' first='Tommy' last='Thies'] will put pen to paper tomorrow on National Signing Day and Miami (OH) is so happy to have him.&nbsp; Like his brother he has an elite nose for the ball at the safety spot as he consistently was always around the ball.&nbsp; Recorded 14 tackles in the game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Fenwick Passing Game Makes Key Plays When Needed</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fenwick senior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='401610' first='Jamen' last='Williams'] was effective in this game because outside of one interception he didn't make the big mistake.&nbsp; He took what the defense gave him.&nbsp; Ran for 38 yards on the ground and a touchdown.&nbsp; Passing he was 8/14 for 155 yards and two scores.&nbsp; He made clutch throws in the redzone and a few big plays.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Timely Plays By Fenwick Defense</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While East St. Louis out gained Fenwick by double it was the timely stops that made the difference.&nbsp; The interceptions by Odin Ferjak and [player_tooltip player_id='811647' first='Jake' last='Thies'].&nbsp; Not letting the Flyers get 3^rd and short.&nbsp; Stops on fourth down.&nbsp; Not allowing Shanklin to run into the endzone and stopping him on the last play of the first half.&nbsp; Senior linebacker Mike Murphy was a baller as the 6'0” 205 pound linebacker takes excellent angles to the ball including flying into the backfield for a pair of TFLs along with 14 total tackles.&nbsp; Cameron Garrett caught one on a 37 yard go route where he adjusted to the ball in the air for a score.&nbsp; Raphiel Stewart grabbed a 15 yard score over the middle.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Special Teams, Turnovers, and Penalties Cost East St. Louis in Big Game</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When I covered East St. Louis in their game against Edwardsville I wrote this in my post game story “So what can stop this team from another title?&nbsp; Two things stood out in way too many penalties and kicking game.&nbsp; They had a lot of penalties on both sides of the ball which didn't matter in a blowout, but in a close game it could.”&nbsp; Well it did.&nbsp; They had 9 penalties for 57 yards, but there is more to the story that just that.&nbsp; They were on false starts on 1^st down to start drives, offsides on kickoffs, delay of game on the first play of a drive, and three false starts on 4^th down.&nbsp; The kicking game wasn't good from the beginning.&nbsp; First punt of the game they botched the snap and the punter's knee hit the turf giving Fenwick a 3 yard field to score.&nbsp; Missed extra points.&nbsp; Almost multiple times picking up the ball on punts when there was no need to be around the ball.&nbsp; This was even more apparent when you looked at the Fenwick special teams being a strength in the punting and kicking game behind Northwestern commit [player_tooltip player_id='2061138' first='Noah' last='Sur'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>East St. Louis Running Game</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The running game for most of the contest was dominant for the Flyers.&nbsp; [player_tooltip player_id='788737' first='Myson' last='Johnson-Cook'] showed the state why he is the #1 player in the 2027 class in Illinois and one of the best running backs in the country.&nbsp; He had 181 yards and 2 touchdowns.&nbsp; He is so big, fast, and powerful looking like Adrian Peterson at times out there with how easy it looks for him to accelerate.&nbsp; [player_tooltip player_id='1604137' first='Ahmad' last='Coleman'] racked up 102 yards and 1 touchdown for the game on just 11 carries.&nbsp; He is a slashing runner that does damage inside and out.&nbsp; Their “third back” still projects as a group of 5 runner at the next level as 2027 [player_tooltip player_id='1282833' first='Amir' last='Tillman'] had one big run where he ripped off a 55 yard touchdown hiding behind the line then turning on the gas.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->