Chris Hugo
Section618.com

BELLEVILLE — The Althoff Crusaders ran away from the Mt. Vernon Rams thanks to junior running back Malik Nave’s five touchdown performance in a 37-20 victory on Friday night.

Nave got the party started after punching in a 2-yard carry for a score on the game’s opening drive at the 8:58 mark and followed that up with a 16-yard score with 3:48 left in the first. The Crusaders gained two more points on a safety and then another 12-yard run by Nave in the second quarter for a 23-0 lead heading into halftime.

Althoff tried to get its passing attack going, but later reverted to the Nave Show in the second half after the running back added a 10-yard TD with 5:30 left in the 3rd for a 30-0 lead.

The Rams came to life on back-to-back third quarter drives that saw Marcus Garrett score on a 59-yard run after he spelled Ethan Rivera for a play. On the very next drive, Peyton McMillen found Fisher Davis for a 63-yard TD pass to get the Rams back in the game at 30-14 with 2:07 to go in the 3rd.

Althoff had a productive 4th quarter drive trying to thwart a Rams’ comeback until Crusader quarterback Alex Poettker was trying to rescue a broken play with a pass in the backfield to Nave that was picked off by Garrett who ran it back 60 yards for a pick 6 to draw the Rams within two possessions at 30-20.

After Althoff turned the ball over on downs, Mt. Vernon fumbled on the very next play from scrimmage setting up the fifth and final Nave TD from a yard out with 2:00 left preserving the 37-20 win.

Nave finished with 34 carries for 229 yards and five touchdowns. Garrett had two carries for 56 yards and a TD in addition to his interception return for a TD.

The Rams are now 0-4 (0-1) and return home on next Friday for a South Seven Showdown with Marion. That game will be carried on WMIX-AM 940 & 96.5 FM with streaming video on Section618.com and the Section618.com App.