South Elgin clinches playoff berth with win over West Aurora
After allowing West Aurora 21 points in the first half, South Elgin coach Patrik Pistorio realized his team had to play much better defense in the second half to pull off a win.
The Storm certainly heeded Pistorio's words of wisdom during the final half of play.
While holding the visiting Blackhawks scoreless, the Storm tallied 20 unanswered points in the second half in posting a 37-21 win in Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division play in South Elgin Saturday afternoon.
"We knew we had to make some adjustments to slow down West Aurora," said Pistorio. "They have such great athletes. We did a better job tackling in the second half."
Down 21-17 at halftime, the Storm set the tone on its first drive of the second half marching 78 yards on 8 plays. Chewing up 4 minutes and 25 seconds, the Storm grabbed the lead for good 24-21 on a 1-yard run by Jacob AmRhein with 7:35 left in the third quarter.
Both defenses stifled the respective offenses until the Storm took advantage of 2 interceptions by West Aurora quarterback Johnathan Doyle late in the game.
An interception by Justin Nutof set up a 26 yard TD from AmRhein to Jaurice Thomas with 2:04 remaining.
CJ Bradford picked off a Doyle pass on West Aurora's first play after the Strom TD.
South Elgin (6-1, 3-0), which qualified for the IHSA playoffs with the win, scored on the following play after the Bradford interception on a 10-yard run by Shawn Griffin with 1:41 left.
AmRhein, who ran for 2 scores, completed 31-of-44 passes for 305 yards with an interception and a TD to Thomas.
Derek Kumerow grabbed 13 passes for 123 yards and Andrew Kamienski snared 12 passes for 117 yards.
"They were playing off our receivers and we took what they gave us," said AmRhein. "It is great to make the playoffs. The hard work paid off."
West Aurora (4-3, 2-2), which utilized the big play in the first half, got an 81-yard kick off return for a touchdown by Drake Spears to start the game.
Daqaun Cross, who gained 128 yards on 12 carries, scored on TDs of 20 and 5 yards.
"We didn't generate much offense in the second half," said West Aurora coach Nate Eimer. "We had three plays in the second half. Our defense played well the whole game."