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Streamwood handles Dundee-Crown for Guindon's first win

After a trying, often chaotic loss in Week 1, the Streamwood football team was looking for a whole lot of redemption Friday night against Dundee-Crown.

The Sabres got it by way of the big play in a 28-14 nonconference victory at Millennium Field, the first win for new Streamwood coach Don Guindon.

There was senior Keagan Cordone intercepting Dundee-Crown junior quarterback Conor Ryan deep in Streamwood territory to kill a Chargers third-quarter drive.

There was fellow senior Jake Painter, getting his hand on a Ryan pass on a 4-and-16 situation that deflated another D-C drive on the Sabres' 21-yard line with 29 seconds left in the second quarter.

And then there was Brian "Nino" Adkins, who did just about everything Friday except sell popcorn in the bleachers.

After Dundee-Crown scored its first touchdown of the night, a 10-yard pass from Ryan to Matt Wiechmann with 3:38 left in the first quarter, Adkins promptly returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for Streamwood's first score of the 2015 season. He fielded the ball on a hop, scampered down the Sabres' sideline, then dodged D-C's punter en route to the end zone.

Early in the second quarter, Adkins was on the receiving end of a 33-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Brendon Marton, grabbing the ball about 15 yards into the flat, then outracing a pair of defenders into the end zone with 9:43 to go in the half. That culminated a four-play, 66-yard drive.

But perhaps his biggest contribution came with 7:15 left in the third quarter. On a third-and-13 from the Streamwood 33-yard line, Ryan dropped back and fired a pass intended for Nicholas Shydlowski. But Adkins stepped in front of it, and raced down the Dundee-Crown sideline this time, into the right corner of the end zone. Juaquin Rueda's fourth extra point of the night gave the Sabres an insurmountable 28-7 lead.

"I broke down on the ball perfectly, and I'm taller than him, and I got it with one hand, I secured it and then sideline speed," said Adkins of the pick, who finished with a pair of pass catches for 37 yards in addition to his defensive heroics.

So what was the difference between Week 2 and Week 1's flat 34-0 loss to Hoffman Estates?

"The way we came together this week at practice," said Painter, a linebacker and signalcaller on defense for Streamwood, who finished with 14 tackles, including 2 for loss. "We practiced harder than we ever have all season.

"We went over our discipline pretty much in practice. We set up our base rules, and they just turned it on in the field. Guys manned up - we're 18 years old, just growing up, being men, going out there and doing our thing."

"Coach made us run for every penalty last week, so that motivated us," Adkins chimed in.

Guindon agreed that practice was the key difference maker.

"We put it on the seniors," he said. "They set goals; we didn't accomplish those in Week 1 against a great Hoffman team. We said, 'If you want that to happen, there are certain things in the way you have to practice.' We can only talk so much as coaches, but the seniors bought into it and that's what happened this week in practice."

Another plus for Streamwood: The emergence of junior running back Malcolm Davis-Wilder, who finished with 97 yards rushing on 23 carries. Marton finished with 102 yards on 7-of-12 passing and 2 touchdown passes, along with an interception.

Dundee-Crown fell to 1-1, despite the efforts of Ryan, who connected with 8 different receivers and finished 14-for-29 for 130 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Senior James Welzien was his favorite target, catching 4 passes for 35 yards. Shydlowski added 3 catches for 27 yards.

Junior running back Gregory Williams added 59 yards rushing on 16 carries and a 1-yard scoring run with 3:35 left in the game, the result of a 17-play, 60-yard drive. But by then, it was too late for the Chargers.

"We're not a program where we can take anybody lightly," said second-year coach Mike Steinhaus. "We're just not that program yet where we think we can just come out and roll a team. That's not us.

"We talked to our guys from Day 1, and they all know it - we need to outwork, prepare and just outplay teams and play all out. And tonight, we just didn't go it."

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