East St. Louis showed again Saturday why it’s a next-to-impossible force to stop.

Credit St. Laurence for holding off the inevitable – a running clock – until 6:36 remained in the fourth quarter. That’s when the Flyers, on Ahmad Coleman’s third touchdown of the day, set the 50-7 final score in Saturday’s 6A semifinal game at Kavanagh Stadium.

But make no mistake. Aside from three second-half turnovers and a trio of holding penalties that negated three long touchdown plays, this game was all Flyers.

They enjoyed a 459-99 yardage advantage, ran 50 plays to the Vikings’ 39 and generally showed – in racing to a 10th victory against three losses, all to out-of-state schools – why they’ll be the prohibitive favorite over Fenwick in next Saturday’s Class 6A championship.

“This team’s got a brotherhood,” said junior running back Myson Cook Johnson, the transfer from Texas who ran for four touchdowns and 191 yards on 22 carries. “That’s what’s different from other teams I’ve been on. That’s why we’re going to the state championship.

“It’s all the hard work we’ve done for the last 350 days. That’s how it shows. This is the best part of the year for me, going to the state championship for the first time.”

Cook Johnson, who turned 17 on Friday, celebrated with scoring runs of 12, 6, 13 and 10 yards, and had a 69-yard scoring gambol wiped out by one of the holding calls. Coleman (seven carries, 109 yards) scored on 3, 4 and 69-yard runs.

“At playoff time, you try to limit their possessions,” Flyers coach Darren Sunkett said. “We had to run the ball because it was a little windy and a little cold. Those (penalties), we can correct.”

For Vikings coach Patrick Swanson, trying to stop the Flyers was a challenge.

“Spread out, play deep and hold on to your pants up front,” Swanson said. “They’re one of the best teams, if not the best, in the state for a reason. You don’t see a combination of size and speed up front like theirs.

“We knew we had to play an absolutely perfect game and get some things to go our way.”

St. Laurence closed the season at 8-5, but unbowed.

“They’re a hell of a team,” said Vikings junior Sean Rice, who made 17 tackles. “We did what we could to game plan them up. Each team that beat us had to work for it. We were down big (37-0) at halftime, but we didn’t come out and roll our helmets out. That’s a big testament to the guys in the room.”

The Flyers scored on all five of their first-half possessions and picked up a safety on Philip White’s punt block. The Vikings forced a trio of turnovers after the intermission, but by then it was too late.

The Flyers had put the game away and punched their ticket to next Saturday’s 6A state championship game.