St. Charles East can't convert chances

The St. Charles East football team has made excellent adjustments and persevered to accomplish many things this fall.

During Saturday evening's Class 7A second round playoff game at Cary-Grove, the host Trojans answered the Saints' perseverance with a few huge defensive stops and then a late field goal to end the Saints season, 10-7.

"I think we did a good job of holding those guys to 10 points," St. Charles East coach Ted Monken said. "I'm not sure too many people held them to 10 points all year."

Monken's correct. No one has held the Trojans to 10 points this season. In fact the last time they were held to 10 points or less was Sept. 9, 2005 when Cary-Grove beat Dundee-Crown 7-0.

Unfortunately for the Saints, they just couldn't counter with key offensive conversions to sustain their two drive in the second half.

Knotted at 7-7 to begin the third quarter, the Trojans marched down the field to open the second half only to fumble the ball into the hands of Pat Friel on the 14th play of their drive.

Since the Trojans were limiting the damage Saints running back Wes Allen usually does to opposing teams, the Saints fine-tuned their approach. Quarterback Tim Russell had a huge 19-yard pass to Tyler Nutting and tight end Jess Striedl, on just his seventh rush of the season, had a 15-yard pickup. But on a 3rd-and-5, Russell only gained 1 yard on a keeper and then his pass on 4th down was incomplete.

"You're thinking if we can't run it we got to be able to throw it," Monken said. "We threw the ball successfully at times, overall probably not the best, but we threw at times and set up the first score with a nice long score and that's what we needed to do and we probably didn't do enough of it."

The Saints would get another opportunity though thanks to their stingy defense. The Trojans only converted one first down on their next possession before punting the ball away.

Then it was time for Allen, the Upstate Eight Conference Offensive MVP, to take over. The senior was given the ball 8 straight times, netting 49 yards on the drive, and moving the Saints to the Cary-Grove 20-yard line. But again, the Saints couldn't convert as the Trojans defense dropped Nutting for a 1-yard loss on a screen pass and then Matt Leibforth sacked Russell on 4th-and-4.

"We started running the ball there in the fourth quarter and got it down there but just couldn't convert the first down," Monken said. "Probably would've maybe done something different in retrospect, maybe run it a couple of times instead of trying to chuck it out to the side. But we felt like that was a little bit of a changeup and might be able to catch them off guard and get a first down. We didn't get it and that's how it goes and in the playoffs you can't miss opportunities."

Allen, who was held to less than 100 rushing yards for the first time this season, saw his stellar three-year career come a close.

"We knew we weren't going to have many opportunities to score and that when we got close we had to take advantage," Allen said. "It's disappointing that we didn't, but they're a very good defense and a great team."