St. Charles East 30, Lake Park 0
St. Charles East coach Ted Monken had plenty to be pleased about Friday night in Roselle.
His defensive line continued to come together, and new punt returner Eian O'Brien gave the team a spark on special teams. Added together, Monken's Saints convincingly shut down Lake Park 30-0 in Upstate Eight Conference action.
O'Brien's punt-return touchdown came just 1:32 after the Saints grabbed the first lead of the game on a four-yard touchdown pass from Sam Gunther to Jake Krzeczowski.
O'Brien fielded Larry Nawrot's punt on his own 32-yard line, then cut up the right sideline and through the Lancer defense to put St. Charles East (4-1, 3-0 Upstate Eight Conference) ahead.
Monken inserted O'Brien on special teams this week, replacing senior Matthew Hammer.
"The new wrinkle is we got (O'Brien) back there," Monken said. "He's finally got some confidence that he would be able to catch the punt and not have to worry about it.
"We were confident Eian would do a great job, and what a spark he gave us. He's got tremendous speed, and he showed he could catch the ball and do something with it."
Not to be outdone, Hammer also ignited the Saints offense, catching a Gunther pass over the middle and twisting 18 yards to the left pylon just 6 seconds before halftime.
"We had some drives fizzle out, we missed a field goal, so we really had moved the ball and very likely could have had a couple more scores," Monken said. "To put that one in before the half was definitely huge."
Junior Wes Allen built on his success from a week ago, torching the Lancers for 219 yards, including an 81-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Perhaps most impressively, though, the Saints held Lake Park (1-4, 0-3 UEC) to just 99 yards of total offense, as the defensive line consistently won the battle in the trenches.
"That group has been such a tremendous surprise," Monken said.
Lake Park's rushing game never got going, averaging merely two yards per carry.
"We couldn't block (defensive tackle Dave Mashal)," Lancers coach Andy Livingston said. "They got a whole lot of good defensive players."
With a relatively young team, Livingston hopes his players learn from their mistakes, specifically concerning Hammer's touchdown and O'Brien's return.
"If we could have sucked it up for another 15 seconds there…that's a huge learning curve," he said. "You give up a 70-yard return, that happens in 10 seconds, and all of a sudden the momentum is really gone."