Wrap-up: Wave finally snaps streak
One play stood between St. Edward and its first victory since Oct. 8, 2004.
St. Francis running back Stan Bobowski had just scored on a 2-yard run in overtime to pull visiting St. Francis within 28-26.
Forced to attempt the 2-point conversion to forge a tie, the Spartans pitched the ball left to running back Mark Kachmer. But the junior was met at the 2-yard line by four Green Wave defenders, led by Moises Quiroga and Nevin Bens, and stopped short of the goal line.
With that tackle three years of frustration evaporated into the muggy autumn night. The entire student section huddled around Greg True Field -- extra large on St. Edward's homecoming night -- stormed the field to celebrate the end of the school's record 26-game losing streak.
Grown men wept. Players were lifted onto fans' shoulders. Everyone got hugged.
The streak was finally dead.
"I will never forget this day my whole life, especially on homecoming" said Green Wave quarterback Ryan Gilbert. "This is just amazing. It's the best feeling. We waited too long for this."
Gilbert was a big reason St. Edward was able to overcome its 14-6 halftime deficit. He completed a pass to Josh Scholly on fourth down to keep a third-quarter drive alive. Seven plays later he launched a perfect pass to Cory Diaz in the corner of the end zone to pull the Wave within 14-12 with 28 seconds left in the third period.
Gilbert then tied the game with a 2-point bootleg keeper.
But the Spartans roared back on the next play when junior Ryan O'Donnell returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown.
"We were putting in all the effort we could," O'Donnell said. "It was just great to be in one of these great high school games. It was a fun game, but it's a very, very tough loss. We were all working so hard out there, giving it our hearts."
The Spartans missed the extra-point kick wide to the right, however, leaving the score 20-14.
Two possessions later St. Edward drove 75 yards in 11 plays, a march capped by a great adjustment from Scholly, who reached back to snare an underthrown ball from Gilbert for a 20-yard touchdown with 4:21 remaining in regulation time.
However, St. Edward had its extra point try blocked for the second time on the night, leaving the score knotted 20-20.
St. Edward got the ball first in overtime and scored on Quiroga's 1-yard plunge on fourth-and-goal. But the bigger play came next.
Due to his teams' kicking difficulties, Green Wave coach Mike Rolando elected to fake the kick in favor of a rollout option. Gilbert, the holder, placed the ball down, rolled right, pumped once, then threw an accurate strike on the run to Quiroga to give St. Edward its first lead at 28-20.
"We'd had enough trouble with those today," Rolando said of the failed extra points. "They were coming so aggressively, jumping right over our center. So we figured (the pass) had to be open.
"This win is about Matt Ardiente, Nevin Bens, Ryan Gilbert -- our seniors. It's about getting that monkey off their backs to show everybody how good they really are."
St. Francis could only tip its collective hat.
"I'm very happy for them snapping their streak," St. Francis coach Greg Purnell said. "I feel very bad for our kids. They played better than us, they tackled better, they blocked better. They de7served to win."
Football
Richmond 28, Hampshire 27: Homecomings don't get much wilder than Hampshire's on Friday night.
After a completely non-existent third quarter, the Whip-Purs gave their fans nearly everything imaginable in a football game during the emotional roller coaster of a fourth quarter. They gave them everything except a comeback victory, as the Whips fell to Richmond-Burton 28-27 in Big Northern East action
"We had a lot of enthusiasm," Whips' receiver Brandon Gehringer said. "(But) every play they were right there. It was inches away."
A missed extra point after quarterback Trace Teboda's 39-yard touchdown run put Hampshire down 28-27 with 5:58 left to play.
The Whips' defense managed to get the ball back after holding Richmond-Burton (3-4, 1-2) on the next series. Teboda threw an incomplete pass and was picked off by the Rockets' David Jewell giving R-B the ball back with just 2:07 remaining.
Hampshire wasn't even close to being finished.
The Whips held the Rockets' on their next series and regained possession at their own 23 with 1:07 remaining. Teboda, who rushed for 106 yards on the Whips' two fourth-quarter scoring drives, completed a pair of passes to T.J. Burzak setting up first-and-10 on the Whips' 47.
Teboda fired away 4 straight incomplete passes, but Gehringer drew a pass interference call on fourth-and-10 giving Hampshire a whole new set of downs with 35 seconds left.
Unfortunately for Hampshire, the new opportunities mirrored the old ones, with Teboda getting stopped for no gain, Jewell batting a pass intended for Gehringer and another incompletion before Teboda was forced to run with time expiring. In all, the Whips ran 11 plays in the final 1:07
"We had a lot of chances," said Hampshire coach Dan Cavanaugh, who was denied his 100th career win. "We didn't complete them. Our kids fought all game."
Trailing 20-14 at halftime, Hampshire (4-3, 1-2) managed just 15 yards on 10 plays in the third quarter, Things were looking even worse when leading rusher Joe Moore left the field after gaining 5 yards for the final play of the period.
Then Teboda took off.
The quarterback ran for 39 yards on 2 plays setting up Moore's 2-yard score to give Hampshire a 21-20 lead with 8:52 left.
R-B answered back less than 1 minute, 55 seconds later when Jewell found sophomore Kyle Wismer on a 5-yard pass. Sophomore Justin Russel gave the Rockets a 2-point conversion to take a 28-21 advantage.
Russel gave Hampshire, which hosts Burlington Central next week, a major headache in the first half after scoring 3 touchdowns and rushing for 79 yards. He finished with 145 yards on 11 carries.
Russel scored on runs of 15 and 30 yards in the first half and caught a 15-yard pass to put R-B up 20-14 with only 27 seconds left in the first half.
Teboda found Gehringer for a 12-yard score and Moore ran in a 4-yard touchdown for the Whips in the first half.
-- Matt Stacionis
Elgin 40, East Aurora 6: Elgin got it done on the ground, through the air, and especially on defense Friday night, routing winless East Aurora on the road, 40-6, to pick up its first Upstate Eight Conference win of the season.
Quarterback Tom Roth threw for 2 touchdowns and ran for two more as the Maroons took control of the game in the first half and let their defense do the rest.
"It was huge that we were able to come out firing," Roth said.
Roth got Elgin on the board less than four minutes into the game with a 2-yard plunge, three plays after his 37-yard punt return set his team up at the East Aurora 18.
But the Maroons gave those points back when Robert McGowan took the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for what would turn out to be the Tomcats' only score.
"We were just a little too tight to each other and didn't get to the lanes," Elgin coach Tom Kim said. "I was proud of the way the boys responded to adversity tonight."
Elgin answered near the end of the opening quarter when Roth found Jamal Cook in the right flat 17 yards from the end zone. The junior receiver had one defender to beat.
"I saw him, made a move, and he missed," Cook said. "We were able to set the tone for the game, and that was really important."
The Maroons (3-4, 1-3) got the ball back in a hurry and on the first play of the second quarter, Robert Hayes tore off a 63-yard run to the East Aurora 9, setting up Roth's second rushing touchdown.
"Our spirits are high right now, even though I still don't think we played up to our potential," Roth said.
Elgin capped the first half scoring with just over four minutes to go in the second quarter, as Roth found a wide open Cook for a 53-yard touchdown pass and the Maroons carried a 27-6 lead into the break.
Both of Elgin's second-half touchdowns were scored by Kenny Williams, who sat out the first half, but rushed for 105 yards on 8 carries in the final two quarters.
Williams ran for 37 yards on his first carry, then 28 more for a touchdown in the first minute of the third quarter. The senior scored the game's final touchdown on a 31-yard run around end with 4:27 left in the game.
"It was a sloppy game, but our kids were able to bear down mentally," Kim said. "This was a great way for us to go into next week."
The Maroons will now gear up for next Saturday's showdown with Larkin.
"This is real big for us tonight," Cook said. "This lets Larkin know we're coming."
-- Henry Perez
Girls Volleyball
Westminster Christian d. Fox Valley Lutheran: Katie Webster served 5 aces as Westminster Christian downed Fox Valley Lutheran 25-12, 25-9 in the Warriors' homecoming game. Lindsey Burket added 3 kills for the Warriors (7-14) and Abby Stevenson had 3 aces and a kill.
Boys soccer
NSCD 4, Elgin Academy 2: After losing 7-0 to North Shore Country Day the first time around, Elgin Academy (1-14-1, 0-6) put up a fight dropping this Independent School League battle 4-2. Cory Ebert scored both Hilltopper goals unassisted. In goal, Brandon Cork racked up 12 saves.