Thorton Fractional 21, S. Elgin 7

A great defensive performance couldn't overcome dropped pass after dropped pass by Storm receivers as Thornton Fractional South defeated South Elgin 21-7 Friday night in a nonconference game at Millennium Field.

The game was decided by the end of the first half as Rebels quarterback Ryan Rizzi, with just 37 seconds left in the half, drove the ball 47 yard capped by a 35 yard touchdown pass to Kevin Bradley to go into the break with the 14-7 lead.

The Storm had tied the game right before as Peter Scaffidi threw a 4 yard pass to Jordan Uvegas after the drive was kept alive on a fake punt earlier as Shawn Ryan threw a first down pass to Cody Myers.

"We went for it and executed and scored," said Storm coach Dale Schabert. "At that point, we were down and took the chance."

The Rebels scored their first touchdown on their first drive of the game driving 79 yards with a 15 yard run by Cordaro Jackson for the touchdown.

The second half saw only one touchdown from the Rebels defense as Scaffidi had a pass tipped into DeMario Cage's hands as he ran 60 yards to the end zone.

"You can't blame Pete for that one," Schabert said. "It was tipped right into the defenders hand."

For the Storm's air attack, Scaffidi finished 12-32 with only 75 yards as it seemed like no Storm receiver could catch the ball.

"I don't know what it was. I couldn't count how many dropped passes we had on my fingers and toes alone," Schabert said.

With the ineffective passing game, the Storm went to the run with little time to spare, and they couldn't get anything going as they ran for only 77 yards.

"I didn't know what else to do," Schabert said. "Offensively, we didn't do our job. That starts and end with me."

"We did not play good today," Scaffidi said. "It wasn't a good effort on our side of the ball."

For the Rebels, their offense was not much better as Rizzi went 4-9 with 79 passing yards while their running backs went for 148 yards.

"Our defense really stepped up and played well, said Rebels coach Tom Padjen. "Offensively, we didn't do much. We had only that one big play at half that gave us the lead."