South Elgin rolls past West Chicago
In 2014 South Elgin narrowly missed out on a football postseason berth, finishing with a playoff-eligible 5-4 record but feeling the sting of losing a tiebreaker for one of the final spots in the field.
Rather than wallow in disappointment, the Storm spent the off-season making sure it wouldn't experience the pain of coming up short again in 2015. In fact South Elgin set even higher expectations for this season, then went out and met them.
When the Storm knocked off West Chicago 66-8 Friday night, it achieved the third of their lofty season goals. South Elgin completed the season with a school-record 8-1 mark, won the Upstate Eight Valley Division championship and easily earned a ticket to the playoffs. The team's next goal is to become the first South Elgin squad to advance to at least the third round of the postseason. The Storm reached the second round in 2010.
"This is a big step for our program," coach Pat Pistorio said. "We really came together this season as a program, a team and a community. This group is special. They worked extremely hard in the off-season, asking us as coaches for more and more things to do to get better, and most of our seniors came up as sophomores and are three-year starters. They've played at this level for a long time."
One of those three-year senior starters, Shawn Griffin, was a primary reason for South Elgin's record-setting season. With a light rain shower falling throughout Friday's game, South Elgin turned to the explosive tailback, and he didn't disappoint, rushing for 139 yards and a season-high 5 touchdowns in a little over two quarters of action before Pistorio shut him down to rest up for next week's playoff opener.
"I give it up to my offensive line," Griffin said. "They created big holes for me each time I touched the ball. It's a great feeling to win and make school history tonight. It's a credit to our overall commitment this summer and the dedication that everyone showed to the team. It feels great to go into the playoffs like this. I think we can go as far as we want to go (in the postseason)."
Griffin's 14-yard jaunt into the end zone 2 1/2 minutes into the opening quarter started an onslaught by South Elgin in all three phases of the game. Andrew Kamienski, another three-year starter, blocked a West Chicago punt on the ensuing possession, and Joey Rohde recovered at the Wildcats' 1-yard line. Griffin then scored on the next play for a 14-0 edge.
The Storm's special teams struck again with 2:38 left in the quarter when Kamienski blocked another punt and his brother Jeffrey recovered the ball in the end zone for a 21-0 lead. South Elgin's defense forced West Chicago (1-8) to turn the ball over on downs, and Griffin ran untouched for 42 yards to stretch the lead to 28-0.
A fumble recovery by Rohde set up Griffin for a 16-yard TD run that made it 35-0, and the Storm closed out the half with a 24-yard field goal from Nicolas Farfan and a 31-yard score from Griffin for a 45-0 advantage. South Elgin's defense got into the act, limiting the Wildcats to 50 first-half yards and three first downs.
"Our special teams have been doing a great job," Pistorio said. "They've had several blocked punts throughout the season. And our defense has been great at stopping the run, which we focus on a lot."
In the second half, South Elgin added a 68-yard touchdown pass from Jacob AmRhein to Andrew Kamienski and a 90-yard interception return by linebacker Justin Nutof along with a one-yard TD run from Markee Prude. West Chicago closed out the scoring with an 11-yard TD pass from quarterback Alex Turney to wideout Mikey Bibbs.