Another comeback win for South Elgin
The comeback kids from South Elgin did it again.
The Storm overcame a 14-7 deficit with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat Larkin 20-14 in an Upstate Eight Conference game at muddy Memorial Field on Friday.
"There was no doubt in my mind we were going to come back and win the ballgame," said South Elgin senior receiver Jake Kumerow, who made 7 receptions for 141 yards and a touchdown.
The win gives South Elgin (7-2, 4-2) a shot at hosting a playoff game. The loss will likely keep Larkin (5-4, 2-4) from grabbing a playoff berth. The Royals entered the regular-season finale with only 30 playoff points and expect to miss the postseason when pairings are announced by the IHSA tonight.
Larkin rallied from a 7-0 halftime deficit with 2 touchdowns in the third quarter on an 8-yard pass from Kyle Newquist to tight end Alex Wahl and a 1-yard run by 290-pound senior Cody Schue, who played fullback and rushed for 50 yards on 13 carries.
The Storm comeback started midway though the fourth quarter, when the defense stopped Larkin's Jalen Williams (28 carries, 189 yards) on fourth-and-2 at the South Elgin 35-yard line.
South Elgin went to the air immediately as quarterback John Menken connected with Kumerow on consecutive passes of 35 and 18 yards. The duo finished the drive off with a 13-yard pass on which Kumerow was left wide open, and David Reisner's point after tied the game at 14 with 5:37 left in the game.
"That was a huge momentum swing right there," Menken said. "The short passes were working, the long passes were working. (Kumerow) goes up and gets the ball at times and I just have all the confidence in the world in him."
Larkin switched quarterbacks on its ensuing drive, inserting junior defensive back Lee Jackson in an attempt to run an option package added in practice during the week.
However, Jackson fumbled the center exchange on second-and-16, and South Elgin defensive end Andre York recovered the loose ball at the Royals' 35-yard line with four minutes to play.
After a pair of 9-yard passes to Kumerow advanced the Storm to the Larkin 9-yard line, they opted for a 27-yard field goal attempt with 1:37 remaining. But Larkin jumped off sides to breathe new life into the South Elgin drive. Brad Birchfield scored 3 plays later on an off-tackle, 1-yard run to the left side to make it 20-14. Reisner's point-after kick hit the left goal post.
With time running out Larkin completed a 12-yard pass from Newquist to Williams and threw another incomplete before fumbling on a reverse. That turned out to be the final play of the game.
Following the loss, the Royals rued a pair of trips into the red zone in the first half that yielded no points. One drive ended on an interception. On another the Royals turned the ball over on downs.
"We were in situations tonight where we were close to scoring and we just didn't punch it in," Larkin coach Matt Gehrig said. "When you win or lose a close football game and you play it over and over in your mind after the game, you can usually narrow it down to two or three situations where you either capitalized or you got stopped. That's what happened to us tonight."
Larkin's Williams, the area's leading rusher, finished his senior season with 1,754 yards.
Menken (11 of 24, 185 yards, 2 TDs) gave the Storm a first-half lead when he threw to Sean Kolber at the goal line. The pass, tipped by Wahl at the 5-yard line, caromed into Kolber's hands to give the Storm the advantage with 2:48 left in the second quarter.