Sabres garner 1st win

For the previous two years, Streamwood has combined to win 2 games. Oddly enough, both of them were against East Aurora. Winless coming in and a senior class winless on homecoming, Streamwood killed two birds with one stone Friday night, downing East Aurora 40-21 in an Upstate Eight Conference game at Millenium Field.

Until Friday night, Streamwood (1-4, 1-2) failed to give up less than 361 yards and 39 points per game it averages. Against East Aurora the Sabres allowed only 267 yards of total offense and allowed 18 points less than their average.

"It started a little suspect in the beginning, then all of a sudden they had a fire lit under them," Sabres coach Cal Cummins said. "I think our focus this week was really sound, our preparation was really sound. We came out and we when did something wrong, we came back. We found a way, rather than collapsing or falling apart, we found a way to dig deep and come out."

After an 82-yard kick return by Johnny Barbosa on the game's first punt, Streamwood's first drive started on the Tomact 2. It was finished off by Derrick King's 2 yard run that put the Sabres ahead 6-0.

"We knew we could pull one off. Our team didn't even know we didn't score," said quarterback Noel Rivera. "We established a real quick play - touchdown right of the bat."

East Aurora (1-4, 1-2) responded with a heavy dose of Michael Turner, who scored on a 29-yard run down the middle to tie it at 6. After that touchdown, Streamwood's defense allowed him 34 more yards, to finish with 63 on the ground.

Streamwood's spark on defense ignited an offense that exploded in the second quarter. King and Nick Pryor both scored a pair of 5 yard touchdowns, and then Rivera got into the mix with his 18-yard touchdown pass to Jim Kaltinger with 18 seconds in the half to up the Sabre lead to 26-13. Streamwood would finish with 267 yards total offense.

King added another touchdown, his third of the day late in the third to give the Sabres a 33-13 lead. King finished with 103 yards on the ground, and his counterpart, Wayne Holloway, added 125 on the ground in a balanced run attack.

"I was proud of all of them. The line was giving pressure, the backers were doing their job, we were getting coverage down field. It feels good. We've been working hard for this," said Kaltinger.