Scouting: St. Charles E. at S. Elgin

St. Charles East (1-2, 1-0)

at South Elgin (3-0, 1-0)

Game time: 7:30 p.m. today at Streamwood's Millennium Field.

Last year: St. Charles East 42, South Elgin 3.

Last week: St. Charles East 41, Streamwood 7; South Elgin 28, Neuqua Valley 26.

Outlook: First things first - after losses to two ranked teams to start the season, Geneva and Naperville North, last week Mike Fields earned his first victory as head coach. "I'm just so happy for the kids," said the former longtime Geneva assistant. "I'm proud of them. We put them in a tough spot." The Saints go from one tough spot to another, because South Elgin coach Dale Schabert looks to have his Storm headed in a positive direction with the first 3-0 start in the program's brief four-year history. The Storm did it last week with big plays, breaks and a bit of spunk at the end, when defensive lineman Derek Hurschman snuffed out a potential game-tying 2-point conversion with 3:38 left to play. South Elgin was outgained 464-164 and gained 10 first downs to Neuqua Valley's 30, but caught fire on 2 John Menken-to-Jake Kumerow touchdown passes and Brad Birchfield's 91-yard kickoff return to start the third quarter. The Storm finished with 3 net rushing yards while Menken was 9-of-25 passing for 161 yards. "They like to throw it deep, deep deep," Fields said. St. Charles East should be well-equipped to defend the pass, its all-senior secondary of Matt Payne, Bryce Barry, Patrick Hogan and Tyler Nutting now bolstered by late arrival Spencer Motley. Barry had a career game against Streamwood, blocking a punt that led to Jon Voytilla's touchdown recovery, intercepting a pass, and forcing a fumble that led to another Saints touchdown. Should South Elgin decide to throw short, middle linebacker Phil Bucaro "is improving every week," Fields said. Against Streamwood the Saints had a good news-bad news scenario that may impact the offense this week. Cory Campbell's 69 yards on 12 carries gave the Saints a third leading rusher in as many weeks, but like offensive guard Rafael Flores (knee), Campbell (shoulder) is questionable for this game. Regardless of that or of South Elgin's improvement, Fields sees this as a marathon, not a sprint. "My goal is, we don't want to peak now, we want to peak in Week 9," he said.

Next week: St. Charles East at East Aurora (0-3, 0-1), Sept. 25; Lincoln-Way North (1-2) vs. South Elgin at Bartlett, Sept. 26.