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.