Aurora Central Catholic 52, St. Edward 36
The St. Edward Green Wave 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 the Aurora Central Catholic Chargers Friday night 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 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.