Big second half lifts Elgin over Streamwood

The defense kept the Elgin football team in the game during the first half Friday night.

The offense showed up in the second half to help out in a 33-2 victory over Streamwood at Millennium Field in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division opener for both teams.

The Maroons (2-1, 1-0) managed only 11 yards of offense in the first half, but only trailed 2-0 thanks to a defense that forced a fumble and had an interception inside their own 5-yard line. Elgin also forced a turnover on downs at the 5.

"We had a lot of yelling and arguing (at halftime)," Elgin senior Jordan Dean said. "The coaches did a good job of getting us together and re-establishing that family bond that you are supposed to have during football to win games."

Elgin drove the ball 50 yards on its opening possession of the second half, but turned the ball over on downs at the Sabres' 12. The Maroons scored on their next three possessions as Dean, who finished with 66 yards rushing, scored on runs of 2 and 3 yards. Quarterback Jake Meyer, who also threw for 127 yards, scored on a 1-yard plunge. Dean's second touchdown gave the Maroons a 20-7 lead with 9:51 left in the fourth quarter.

"We stopped yelling at each other and came back together," Meyer said.

Devin Gilliam recovered a fumble in the end zone for a score with 6:20 remaining. Jordan Smith completed the second-half domination with a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown with 3:24 left.

The Maroons had 3 interceptions, including Dean intercepting a Dalton Lundeen pass at the 1 late in the second quarter to keep the Sabres out of the end zone.

The Sabres (1-2) had 179 yards of offense in the first half, but failed to score any points. The only points came on a bad snap on a punt that went out of end zone for a safety with 2:38 left in the second quarter.

"Defensively, the kids played hard the whole game," Maroons coach Dave Bierman said. "Kyle Rhode is our defensive coordinator and he did an excellent job. It's a shutout. Those two points are on the offense."

"You miss those opportunities and it obviously worked on us mentally," Sabres coach Cal Cummins said. "We didn't overcome that for whatever reason."

Streamwood earned only one first down in the second half. Lundeen threw for 144 yards, 70 to Nick Pryor. Alex Morrow had 57 yards rushing, a week after setting a school record with 300 yards against Dundee-Crown.