Streamwood ends West Chicago's playoff hopes

West Chicago drove the length of the field for a touchdown early in Saturday's Upstate Eight River game, but Streamwood's defense never let it happen again in a 28-8 victory at Millennium Field.

Hungry to earn a fourth win and stay in the playoff race, West Chicago mounted an impressive opening drive. The Wildcats marched 70-yards in 16 plays and ate 7:32 off the clock.

Twice quarterback Peyton Seidel kept that drive alive by converting on fourth-and-short with passes over the middle to Jake DeLuca. Seidel capped it with a 3-yard touchdown run and a conversion keeper to stake his team to an 8-0 lead.

Streamwood (3-5, 3-3) got tougher defensively from that point forward. The next 10 possessions for West Chicago (3-5, 2-4) resulted in 3 punts and 3 interceptions, and four times the Wildcats turned the ball over on downs.

"After that we just struggled to move the ball consistently," West Chicago coach Ted Monken said. "We moved it well at times but just didn't really find a way to get into the end zone. That separates good teams from bad or average teams."

West Chicago's deepest second-half incursion into Streamwood territory was the 20-yard line.

"Everyone just doing their job," Streamwood defensive tackle Chance McCray explained. "Coaches stress just do your job all the time and, apparently, everyone got it in their heads today."

Streamwood scored 28 unanswered points, beginning with a 3-yard run by Nino Adkins, which was set up by a West Chicago personal foul and a pair of receptions by Cody Jayko from quarterback Max Draper, who completed 18 of 26 attempts for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jayko finished with 6 catches fo 57 yards. West Chicago blocked the extra point to maintain its 8-6 lead with 2:52 left in the second quarter.

The Sabres broke through again on their second possession of the third quarter. They moved 52 yards in 8 plays, culminating in a 13-yard touchdown reception by Noah Polich. After going in motion, Polich caught a short pass in the flat, cut back through traffic and stretched the ball across the goal line.

"Honestly, I was a little surprised. I was not expecting to score on that," Polich said. "I mean, my blockers totally helped me out. Even though I cut back across the field, they shut that other side down and it ended up in a touchdown."

Draper connected with sophomore Joey Droll for the 2-point conversion pass and a 14-8 lead with 2:13 left in the third quarter.

After the teams traded possessions, Streamwood junior defensive back Mikey Perez picked off a Seidel pass at the West Chicago 40 and returned it 16 yards.

Streamwood's offense capitalized 5 plays later when Draper hit Polich on a quick out pattern for a 4-yard touchdown. Polich's 2-point conversion catch gave the Sabres a 22-8 lead with 6:35 left. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound wide receiver led Streamwood with 9 grabs for 70 yards.

The Sabres subsequently capped off a successful Senior Day by stopping West Chicago on downs at its own 26-yard line with 4:57 remaining. That allowed Adkins to put the game out of reach with a 21-yard touchdown run. He finished with 85 yards and 2 touchdowns in 12 attempts.

The third victory of the season was important to Streamwood, which finished 1-8 in 2013.

"We've got one more game coming up with Batavia, but we've obviously made an improvement over where we were last year," second-year Streamwood coach Mark Orszula said. "Our kids put the time in in the weight room, and it's nice to see that some of the work they put in in the off-season is showing on the field."

Senior running back Danny Lazzerini led the Wildcats with 14 carries for 73 yards.