Aurora Central 52, St. Edward 36

The St. Edward football team pushed its consecutive loss streak to 23 games by letting a fourth quarter lead slip away and losing its Suburban Catholic Conference opener 52-36 to Aurora Central Friday at Greg True Field in Elgin.

Heading into the fourth quarter the Green Wave (0-3, 0-1) found themselves comfortably ahead 36-24 but the ride was about to get bumpy.

Chargers quarterback Mike Adams found Kyle Edwards for a 40-yard touchdown pass and hit Mark Adams with a pass to convert the 2-point conversion, which cut the Green Wave lead to 4.

On the ensuing kickoff the Chargers' special teams got the ball back when they recovered a squib kick at the Green Wave's own 39 yard line.

Adams found Edwards again on a screen pass that went for a 31-yard touchdown followed by an Edwards run for the 2-point conversion bringing the score to 38-36.

The Chargers' special teams struck again recovering another squib kick at the St. Edward 40.

Adams then found his other favorite target on the night, Mark Adams, for a 12-yard touchdown pass that gave the Chargers (1-2, 1-0) a 2 score lead.

Adams finished with 6 touchdown passes for the game.

The Green Wave, which tied a school record for consecutive losses, had a hard time holding on to the football and two solid drives in the fourth quarter ended on Charger fumble recoveries which dashed any comeback hopes St. Edward might have had.

"The onside kicks and the fumbles killed us tonight," said St. Edward quarterback Ryan Gilbert. "This one is tough to take."

The victory told Mark Adams something about his teammates that he didn't know they had in them.

"I didn't know we could get that pumped up," said a surprised Mark Adams. "We knew we could do it tonight. We saw our opportunities and we capitalized on them."

Both coaches seemed to agree with the players' assessments.

"Our adjustments in the second half and capitalizing on the turnovers was the story of the game," said Chargers coach Mike Curry.

After the game, Green Wave coach Mike Rolando assessed his team's performance as well.

"We're a better team than the way we played tonight and we have got to play our game if we our going to get a win," he said.

Aurora Christian 55, Christian Life 0: The Eagles traveled to Rockford and set the tone on the opening play when John Smith returned the kickoff 83 yards into the end zone. They never let up, rolling to a 55-0 win, their third straight.

Quarterback Jordan Roberts spread the ball around, completing passes to seven different players and all four of his touchdown passes were caught by different receivers.

In the third quarter, the Eagles registered 21 points, with a 12-yard pass from Roberts to Mike Friend and touchdown runs by Smith and Sean O'Boyle.

On defense, the Eagles smothered Christian Life (1-2, 0-1), limiting them to three yards in the third quarter and zero first downs in the entire second half.

"We had to take care of business and they played a hard game and came out with a nice victory," Eagles coach Don Beebe said.

-- Adam Bartolo

Alden-Hebron 10, Mooseheart 0: When you're playing a Top 10 team, mistakes are one thing you can ill afford.

Against Alden-Hebron on Friday night, Mooseheart lost three fumbles and suffered 45 yards in penalties while garnering only 94 yards in total offense.

And still the Ramblers were in with a shot at winning the game until the late running, when it became apparent the host Giants were going to hold on and win the 10-0 contest.

"How could you be upset with your team going in at half only down 3-0?," said Mooseheart coach Gary Urwiler. "We take the (second half) kickoff and we were driving down the field were second and three and we go offside. You just can't have those mistakes when you're in championship play."

The Ramblers (2-1) weathered all those miscues and stayed close on the back of a scrambling defense that forced a pair of turnovers itself.

"We never gave up," Urwiler said. "We were outmatched at the end."

Alden-Hebron (3-0), ranked No. 9 in Class 1A, scored the only points of the first half on a Pat Denker field goal with 99 seconds left in the first half.

Those were the only points until Denker ran in a fourth-down, 17-yard pass reception from quarterback Zach Engelbrecht with 2:51 left in the third quarter.

The game was played despite the death of Alden-Hebron senior Alex Zank-Bauman in the 24 hours preceding the ballgame.

"I didn't find out until we were on the road," Urwiler said. "When I got off the bus, I went to (Alden-Hebron coach John Lalor) right away and said, 'John, there's no pressure here. We have no problem getting back on the bus and going home.' He said the boy's mom came in and said she wanted them to play."

After the game, the teams met at midfield for a prayer.

"They have a great program and I respect (Lalor) and I think he respects us," Urwiler said. "In that type of situation, you throw down out the X's and O's and you become a friend."

-- Darryl Mellema

Girls tennis

St. Charles East 6, East Aurora 1:ŒFirst single player Stephanie Youngberg shut her opponent out and first doubles pairing Amanda Gomez and Erin Bowman won their match 6-0, 6-2.

Men's soccer

Aurora 2, Wabash 0: The Spartans blanked Wabash in Danville, Kentucky. Chase Corricelli scored both goals and Matt Ness picked up the shutout in goal.