Possley, St. Charles East engineer dramatic turnaround

You've probably heard the saying, "What a difference a day makes."

In the case of St. Charles East's football team, it's more like 25 days.

A little more than three weeks ago, the Saints walked off the field with an 0-2 record following a 28-7 road loss to perennial DuPage Valley Conference power Naperville North.

Suffering back-to-back defeats wasn't exactly what coach Mike Fields envisioned as a starting point when he made the move a few miles northeast from Geneva to St. Charles East in the spring.

But rather than look back and agonize over what went wrong during their first two games, the Saints opted for more forward thinking.

"At the time, it probably was easy for outsiders to see and say, 'oh no, St. Charles East is in trouble,' " said Saints senior quarterback Nolan Possley.

"But we never lost confidence."

After managing just a pair of touchdowns over their first eight quarters of play, the Saints exploded for 28 first-half points en route to a 41-7 Week-3 triumph over Streamwood.

"We've heard people saying that the offense couldn't get it done," said senior tailback/safety Matt Payne, who helped "get it done" against the Sabres with 3 touchdown runs.

Next up for the Saints was a Week 4 showdown against a South Elgin team fresh off its first-ever victory, a 28-26 triumph over Neuqua Valley a week earlier.

When injuries forced running backs Corey Campbell and Payne to the sideline, 5-foot-9, 170-pound junior Zach Zajicek stepped in and gained 149 yards on 21 carries, including the go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter during the Saints' 21-14 win over the Storm.

On Friday, Zajicek topped the 100-yard mark for the second consecutive week, gaining 126 of the team's 274 rushing yards during a 41-0 whitewash of East Aurora.

Injuries, adversity, a slow start - no big deal for the Saints (3-2, 3-0), who will bring a three-game winning streak to Aurora on Friday night when they face Waubonsie Valley (3-2, 2-1). St. Charles East has outscored its last three foes by a staggering 103-21 margin.

"We see it everyday in practice," said Possley, who tossed a career-high 3 touchdown passes against East Aurora. "We trust everybody."

In this time of hybrid athletes and Wildcat formations, Possley is a jack-of-all-trades-type player for St. Charles East.

"Nolan is a heck of a quarterback and he's probably our best athlete," Fields said after last week's contest.

Perhaps that explains why the 6-foot, 195-pound Possley has already been utilized as a fullback and linebacker in addition to his favorite position - quarterback.

"I kind of started the year at quarterback, but Coach Fields has asked me to play different positions," said Possley. "I have a lot of fun at all of them."

Possley, who played quarterback on the sophomore squad two years ago, also saw playing time as a wide receiver last year because of the presence of seniors Tim Russell and Dan White.

Now he's beginning to settle in as starting varsity quarterback.

"It's a way faster game now," said Possley, who has been most dangerous moving outside of the pocket. "I've gotten better at rolling out and keeping my eyes downfield. I'm still trying to improve my decision-making and be as accurate a passer as I can."

Against East Aurora, Possley completed 7 of 14 passes for 146 yards and the 3 scores. His first TD pass, a 21-yard strike to Tyler Nutting, came off a play-action bootleg.

Right before halftime, Possley rolled to his left (opposite side) and tossed a 20-yard TD pass to tight end Jess Striedl. For good measure, he added a 3-yard, third-quarter TD run.

"Everyone is clicking," said Possley, who admitted the first two weeks of the season were "difficult for everybody."

Lately, it has been the Saints who have made life difficult for their opponents - with a big assist from offensive linemen Eric Olstad, Zach Hueneke, Charles Ratajczak and Mark Lindholm.

"Our offensive line has stepped up so much," Possley said. "I wasn't sacked last Friday and there were huge holes for our running game."

The Saints' four-game road trip concludes Oct. 9 where it began - at Millennium Field - when they meet Bartlett.

They'll wrap up the regular season with back-to-back home games against Neuqua Valley on Oct. 16 and cross-town rival St. Charles North on Oct. 23.

So we'll continue to learn even more about the Saints - over the next 25 days.

• Contact Craig Brueske via e-mail: csb4k@hotmail.com