Torres, Wave run by Whips

Let the "Golden Era" of St. Edward football begin.

Donned in their matching gold jerseys and pants, the Green Wave used 5 Hampshire turnovers and a strong offensive line push for a 32-6 season opening victory at Greg True Field in Elgin Friday night.

"This is what we expected to do," St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. "We expected to play well. This team has a lot of confidence."

The confidence boost was injected as senior fullback Jordan Torres rumbled for an 87-yard touchdown run with 5:51 left in the first half to kick off the first of St. Edward's 5 scoring drives. Torres took a simple dive up the middle and dashed past the Hampshire secondary for the score.

The senior added scoring runs of 52 and 3 yards in the third quarter. He finished the night with 156 yards on just 9 carries. Hampshire finished with 175 yards on 38 carries.

"(The offensive line) made the holes and we made the plays," Torres said. "As a fullback, I didn't expect to run 87 yards down the field. We were all jacked up."

The Green Wave defense gave themselves plenty to be jacked up about in the first half. Sophomore Evan Finnane notched a fumble recovery off of Hampshire quarterback Joe Peralta with 4:55 left in the first period. Green Wave quarterback Ben Lehman turned around and found Sam Pozezinski for a 31-yard touchdown pass a play later. A failed run attempt on the extra point put St. Edward up 12-0.

David Hoebbel (15 rushes, 123 yards) added a 10-yard scoring run with 10:19 left in the first half. The lead held of the remainder of the first half, despite a fumble recovery from Kyle Unto and interceptions from Nathan Gaige and Pozezinski.

"Big plays," Hampshire coach Dan Cavanaugh said. "It's a cliche, but you can't turn the ball over as many times as we did against a quality team. And they are a quality team."

A.J. Sabate (11 rushes, 62 yards) punched in a 3-yard scoring run with 10:21 left to play for Hampshire.