Streamwood downs West Chicago
"Forty-six minutes of boring and two minutes of crazy," was West Chicago coach Ted Monken's summary of his team's game against Streamwood Friday night Millennium Field.
And it was an apt description of the Upstate Eight Conference cross over game that ended in Streamwood's favor, 28-20.
The teams scored 4 of the 7 touchdowns with less than two minutes to play.
The fourth quarter started with the Sabres leading 14-0, thanks to two rushing touchdowns by Malcolm Davis Wilder (106 yards in 20 carries) in the second and third quarters.
TG Lally put West Chicago (0-2) on the board with a 7-yard TD run in the fourth quarter. The PAT failed, keeping Streamwood ahead 14-6.
On the Wildcats' next series, quarterback Zachary Stefan connected with Jeremy Grant for a 55-yard touchdown pass with 1:10 left to play. West Chicago made the 2-point conversion on a Lally run to tie the game, 14-14.
Streamwood (1-1) responded with its own big passing play to go back in front. Brendon Marton completed a 62-yard pass to Jesse Rico for a score with 52 seconds left in the game, The successful PAT put the Sabres up, 21-14.
On the third play of the Wildcats' next series, the Streamwood defense forced a fumble. Rico recovered the ball and ran 43 yards for another score. Rueda Juaquin's third successful boot gave the Sabres a 28-14 lead.
West Chicago was not finished.
On the ensuing kickoff, CJ Griffin caught the ball at the 20-yard line and ran back 80 yards for another Wildcat touchdown. West Chicago trailed 28-20 after the PAT failed.
With 11 seconds left, West Chicago executed a successful onside kick and had the ball at 50-yard line but was only able to advance the ball 5 yards before time expired.
The end of the game made a Streamwood defensive goal-line stand in the second quarter all the more important. West Chicago had first-and-goal at the Sabres' 5-yard line. Steamwood's defensive unit stopped the Wildcats at the 1.
"It was a lot of fun coming down the stretch, We had a lot of composure out of seniors," said Streamwood coach Don Guidon. "We had big time plays out of seniors on defense. They came up huge in the biggest moments of the game. It was good to see."