St. Charles East denies Streamwood 6th win
In their first opportunity to get that all important sixth win to clinch a playoff berth, the Streamwood Sabres' special teams let the chance slip through their hands Friday night.
St. Charles East turned two muffed punts into touchdowns and returned another punt for a touchdown all in the second half, en route to its first victory of the season, a 49-34 Upstate Eight River Division decision at Millennium Field in Streamwood.
"That No. 6 had a lot of meaning to it," said Streamwood coach Cal Cummins, whose team won't have enough playoff points with 5 wins to make its first postseason appearance since 2002.
"We came out excited, maybe a little too excited. All of our goals are still there though. Everything we want to do is still (possible)."
The first fumbled punt resulted in a 15-yard touchdown run by the Saints' senior quarterback Charlie Fisher (71 rushing yards, 6-of-18 passing for 113 yards).
St. Charles East (1-5, 1-3) Junior fullback Jacob Bruce rumbled in for a 9-yard touchdown run to capitalize on the second fumble to give the Saints a 35-28 lead 36 seconds into the fourth quarter.
It was a lead the Sabres (5-1, 2-1) could not overcome.
"Once we had the momentum we didn't stop," said Fisher. "We put the pedal to the metal and just kept going."
After the Saints defense forced a three-and-out, Saints sophomore return man Brannon Barry flashed to score the decisive 62-yard punt return.
"Brannon Barry's punt return was huge," said Saints coach Mike Fields. "Those turnovers when it rains it pours and tonight we were on the good side of it."
From there, the Saints were able to go to their power-run game to hold their two-score lead.
"You start talking about power football in four-down territory and it's hard to stop," said Cummins. "We really hadn't seen much power football like that."
The Sabres played a little of their own power football to start the game. A pair of rushing touchdowns from senior running back Alex Morrow staked Streamwood to a 14-0 lead 13 seconds into the second quarter.
Morrow would finish with 166 yards rushing on 26 carries. Senior quarterback Dalton Lundeen completed 16-of-33 passing attempts for 274 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Streamwood will seek its sixth win and a playoff bid next week at Geneva.