St. Charles East notches 1st victory
After managing just 41 points in its first five games, St. Charles East's football team exploded for 7 touchdowns 4 by senior tailback Mike Brown on the way to a 45-14 Homecoming triumph over visiting Streamwood (2-4, 0-3) Friday night at Norris Stadium.
The Saints (1-5, 1-3) played it relatively close to the vest, keeping the ball on the ground for 44 of their 48 offensive plays from scrimmage and racked up 319 rushing yards.
Brown, who carried the ball 28 times for 143 yards in the first half, turned in a workmanlike performance, finishing with 244 yards on 38 carries. His touchdown runs covered 4, 38, 1 and 62 yards, respectively.
"It feels great to win," said Brown. "We've been working at it all year. There have just been four or five plays a game holding us back from getting that first one (win). Coach (Fields) just said that we've got to finish and tonight we did."
On their second offensive series, the Saints put together an 11-play, 70-yard scoring drive, capped by Brown's 4-yard TD run that made it 7-0. Brown carried the ball 9 times for 39 yards on the drive, while Zach Zajicek (14 carries, 68 yards) added 31 yards on 2 carries.
At that point, the Saints tried a little trickery, as junior Tim Leibforth recovered an onside kick inside the Sabres' 40-yard line.
On the very next play, Brown took a pitch from quarterback Jake Mazanke and raced into the end zone from 38 yards out as the Saints increased their lead to 14-0 after one quarter.
"There's no doubt that was a definite momentum changer," Streamwood coach Cal Cummins said of the onside kick.
Another momentum changer occurred on the Sabres' second offensive series when junior tailback Alex Morrow injured his right ankle after a short gain.
Morrow, who never returned, came into the game as the Sabres' leading ball carrier with 742 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns.
"For what we game planned, it was a huge loss," admitted Cummins. "Mentally, we were kind of out of sync after that. "
Although the Sabres made it 14-7 on a 5-yard TD pass from Dalton Lundeen to Nick Pryor (9 catches, 101 yards) early in the second quarter, the Saints retaliated with 17 unanswered points.
Danny Muzzalupo began the onslaught by booting a 43-yard field goal with 2:47 left before halftime.
"He has the leg," said Saints coach Mike Fields. "He's just been very inconsistent with his plant foot so we've been working with him.
"Boy, he could've made it from 48 (yards out) or so," added the coach. "And I thought his kickoffs were great, too."
Right before halftime, defensive lineman Alex Stombres stripped the ball from Lundeen and recovered it at the Sabres' 11. Three plays later, Brown scored on a 1-yard TD run to make it 24-7 at halftime.
Joe Hoscheit, Jerry Fialka and Mike Caddy added second-half interceptions for the Saints.
"It was a nice team effort tonight," said Fields. "We told the seniors this is your time the last four games. We just wanted to get one and go from there. This is a good one to start with."