Scouting St. Charles East at Larkin

St. Charles East (0-3, 0-1) at Larkin (1-2, 0-1

When: 1 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Field

Last meeting: 2006, St. Charles East 65, Larkin 29

Last week: Batavia 41, Larkin 0; Geneva 30, St. Charles East 20

Outlook: Larkin lost a key cog to its defense two weeks ago when senior middle linebacker Brandon Williams left a game with a concussion. He sat out against Batavia and will not play this week. Though Williams hopes to return at some point, his season may be finished for precautionary reasons, Larkin coach Mike Scianna said. In addition, the entire defensive line has been restructured since the season opener due to available personnel. The coaching staff promises some position changes this week, a necessary move after the Royals were held to only 5 rushing yards against the physical defense of Batavia. "Our philosophy was to play 22 kids, but we were beaten by a Batavia team that had four or five kids going both ways," Scianna said. "I think this team still has a shot at going in the right direction, so we'll give it a shot with a couple of kids playing on both sides and see what we can do. We know we're young, and this group has done a great job of sticking together so far." The Saints are hoping to break out offensively. They scored 20 points last week against Geneva after scoring a total of 7 points in losses to Carmel and Naperville North. St. Charles East has won the last three games between these schools and leads the all-time series 22-20.

Falling in Weeks 1 and 2 to Carmel and Naperville North, respectively, did not pack the emotional sucker punch that St. Charles East felt after last week's Upstate Eight River division loss to Geneva. That was because the Saints rallied from a 10-0 deficit to take a 20-10 lead then saw that disintegrate. "We had them right where we wanted them," Saints coach Mike Fields said. "It was worse than the first two because the boys knew they'd done enough to win the game, but we just didn't finish it." As it's been so far Saints running back Mike Brown did much of the heavy offensive lifting with 21 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown. But with starting quarterback Charlie Fisher (groin) still out, Fields added a new wrinkle - his "ZZ Top" package. It was not Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard and Dusty Hill in a "trips" formation. Zach Zajicek, last year's top rusher shifted to wideout, switched places with Jake Mazanke (the receiver who succeeded Fisher and Dean Bowen) at quarterback. Zajicek ran the ball for the first time this season, 17 times for 85 yards and touchdown runs of 6 and 3 yards. "When you're down to your third quarterback you've got to do everything you can," said Fields, who has lost Bowen (broken arm) for the season. Each game, however, St. Charles East has been more productive offensively. Defensively the Saints lost coverage on a Geneva pass to the tight end that went for a touchdown. Coverage must be tightened on Larkin's passing combination of quarterback Kyle Newquist to Trevor Whitehead. Batavia was able to do that by pressuring Newquist. "We've got to get that first (win) and we're hopeful that this will be it - if we play to our potential," Fields said.

Next week: Batavia (2-1, 1-0) at St. Charles East, Sept. 24; Elgin (2-1, 1-0) at Larkin, Sept. 24.