Larkin hangs on for big win over St. Charles East
The St. Charles East football team limped into Elgin's Memorial Field down to its third-string quarterback and searching for its first victory of the season.
Larkin, depleted by injuries at middle linebacker and along the defensive line, took no pity on the Saints.
The Royals grabbed a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, built a 13-0 advantage at the half and halted two potential game-winning drives on downs in the fourth quarter to pull out a 16-14 victory in the River Division of the Upstate Eight Conference Saturday afternoon.
"It's a big feather in our cap," Larkin coach Mike Scianna said. "That's a great program, a great head coach over there. Their whole staff is A-1. So for our staff, we feel like this was a big win for our program."
Larkin (2-2, 1-1) intercepted 4 first-half passes by Saints quarterback Jake Mazanke, normally a wide receiver, and limited St. Charles East (0-4, 0-2) to 99 yards passing.
"Jake Mazanke did everything he could to help his football team today," St. Charles East coach Mike Fields said. "This is not on Jake. This is a team sport, and I tell them that from Day 1. It starts at the top with me and goes all the way down.
"I still think the opportunities are there for these guys. We've got five more (games), and I feel like we can get all five of these. This one's going to hurt. I tip my hat to them. They seemed to have a little bit more emotion than us. We came out flat. This team's going to now have to find its identity, and we will."
St. Charles East opened the game by driving 49 yards but missed a 31-yard field-goal attempt. The teams traded punts before Larkin's offense got cooking via the dependable connection between junior quarterback Kyle Newquist and senior receiver Trevor Whitehead. The duo hooked up three times on the drive for 61 yards, including a 25-yard post route for a touchdown with 50 seconds left in the first quarter.
Whitehead caught a total of 9 Newquist passes for 127 yards. He leads all Fox Valley area receivers after 4 games with 37 receptions for 622 yards and 5 touchdowns.
"It feels great," Whitehead said of Larkin's first victory over the Saints since 2003. "I think St. Charles East thinks they're better than us, but we proved it to them. We came out and beat them and it felt great."
The Larkin secondary snuffed out the Saints' 4 remaining drives of the half with interceptions by Justin Banks, Kendall Lawton, Frankie Haywood and Brent Cooks.
"It's hard to stay in any kind of rhythm on offense if you have 4 turnovers, especially 4 in a row," Saints captain Zach Zajicek said.
"Our defense played phenomenal," Lawton said. "We came out in the first half and did a good job making big stops. We just played a good game, especially our line getting through blocks, our linebackers reading their reads and safeties doing their job."
The Royals capitalized on the third interception, thanks to some trickery. Newquist, also the Royals' punter, lined up in punt formation but instead threw the ball to Damon Parham for a 30-yard completion down to the Saints' 4-yard line. Three plays later, junior Shaquille Mosley leapt over the pile for a touchdown with 1:08 left in the first half to give Larkin a 13-0 lead. The extra point was missed.
Mosley, who started in the defensive secondary the first three weeks, switched to running back this week and carried the ball 23 times for 23 yards. His contribution kept the St. Charles East defense wary of the run, which allowed the passing game to flourish.
The Saints got back into the game on their second drive of the third quarter. After moving 30 yards in 4 plays to the Larkin 35-yard line, Mazanke completed a pass to Zajicek, who turned in a spectacular individual effort by breaking 5 tackles before diving for pay dirt.
The Royals responded on their next possession by marching 72 yards to the Saints' 1-yard line. But after failing to score on 1st-and-goal, they had to settle for a 20-yard field goal from Whitehead, which pushed the lead to 16-7.
St. Charles East pulled within 16-14 with 11:10 left in the game. Senior running back Mike Brown's 31-yard gain set up his 5-yard run on the next play.
Larkin stopped the Saints' next drive after 11 plays when Cooks tripped up Zajicek just shy of a first down on 4th-and-4 at the Royals' 35.
St. Charles East had one last chance after regaining possession at its own 43-yard line with 2:52 to play. However, on 4th-and-8 from the Larkin 33, Banks broke up a pass over the middle with 2:08 remaining.
Newquist then sealed the win by rushing for a first down with 38 seconds left. He took a knee in victory formation to end the game.
"We had a good week of practice and we were prepared for this game after losing 41-0 last week (at Batavia)," Newquist said. "We knew what we had to do."