Streamwood able to upend Elgin
Practice makes perfect.
At least it did for Streamwood's Kavari Allen. The senior linebacker spent all week putting in extra practice on blocking punts. It paid off on Friday night at Elgin's Memorial Field when Allen blocked an Elgin punt inside the 5-yard line with just under 7 minutes to play in the third quarter.
Santiyon Pickett recovered it in the end zone for a Sabre touchdown. It was a huge turning point in the Sabres' 14-6 Upstate Eight Conference River Division win over the Maroons.
"My one job, my one goal this week was to block a punt," Allen said. "Coach put in a lot of extra work with me this week. We practiced it over and over. So, I was glad I could come through and get the job done. The whole team stepped up tonight."
The Maroons (0-5, 0-2) had just opened the second half with a touchdown drive to pull to within 7-6 and the Sabres (2-3, 1-2) had lost their starting quarterback Brendon Marton to ankle injury just before halftime. They needed a big play to turn the momentum back in their favor and got it from Allen.
"I have been coaching that kid since his freshman year and I've seen him block a couple before," Streamwood coach Don Guindon said. "We felt like we could get one here, so we put in some extra time working on it during practice. He was in great position to make the play and obviously it was huge for us."
Marton gave the Sabres a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter on a 25-yard touchdown pass to Muhrad Busravi.
However, both teams had to turn to their back up quarterbacks in the second half. Jesse Rico came in to relieve an injured Marton despite limited experience at the position. Rico didn't complete a pass in 4 attempts but did rush for 68 yards on 9 carries, including runs of 27, 21, and 20 yards that help to keep drives a live.
"I've only played a couple games at quarterback when I was younger and just started practicing as the backup over the summer," Rico said. " I was a little nervous but my teammates helped me out a lot. They helped me keep my head in the game and I just tried to the best I could."
Malcolm Davis-Wilder led the Sabres in rushing with 74 yards on 15 carries.
Elgin's Trevon Morris relieved Kristan Flowers at quarterback in the second half and orchestrated a 63-yard touchdown drive on the opening drive. The big play came on a 41-yard pass to Roy Panthier to the Sabre 5-yard line. Moments later Raymone Bridges scored on a run from 2 yards out.
Other than that the Streamwood defense was very stingy, allowing just 238 yards.
"We are not overly talented on that side of the ball," Guindon said. "But we are very disciplined. They do a great job of taking away what the other team wants to do. They have played really well the last 5 weeks and were lights out again tonight."
Jalonie Jenkins and Jason Manalansan each had interceptions for the Sabres in the second half.
"We had way too many mistakes on things we have worked on a lot," Elgin coach Anthony Mason said. "The majority of our 11 guys were doing something wrong on most plays and that's just bad football. I thought we were going to be a better team than this but right now we're not. We haven't figured it out, That goes for both the players and the coaches. We need to just keep working at it and get it figured out."