St. Charles East finishes with a win
A steady rain and a boatload of penalties for both teams turned Friday night's Upstate Eight crossover clash between St. Charles East and host East Aurora into nothing short of a combination between rugby and mud wrestling.
St. Charles East overcame a sluggish first half and a 6-3 deficit to outlast the spirited Tomcats 16-6 behind second-half touchdown runs from freshman Justin Jett and senior Cameron Canales.
Both teams chose to fly on the coattails of their human battering rams, with St. Charles East getting the tough, slippery yards from Jett (18 carries, 63 yards) and Canales (13 carries, 95 yards), while East Aurora countered with 240-pound senior Maurice Bryant (17 carries, 89 yards).
The victory ended a roller coaster season for the Saints (4-5), who struggled early in the season, showed dramatic improvement in nearly upsetting Geneva with a triple-option offense, and endured the unkindest cut of all last weekend in losing to rival St. Charles North. That setback knocked the Saints out of playoff consideration.
"We have a lot of kids banged up and we really overcame adversity tonight and I was a proud of the way we came out and adjusted," said St. Charles East coach Bryce Farquhar said. "Tonight was about our seniors and what they've accomplished."
Terrible field conditions made it tough for both sides, but the referees made it even a little tougher. Both Farquhar and East Aurora coach Kurt Becker complained about the flags, but the officials were equal-opportunity flag throwers.
St. Charles East was whistled 13 times for 110 yards, while the Tomcats had 11 penalties, also for 110 yards.
"I am very proud of our kids, but I am very disappointed in the referring tonight," Becker said. "I never say this, but I think the officials ripped the heart out of kids who played their hearts out tonight."
East Aurora (1-8) opened the game with an 80-yard scoring drive capped when quarterback Nicholas Hoecker found Roberto Romero open just past the Saints' linebackers for a 24-yard touchdown pass.
After that, the Tomcats had offensive drives or defensive efforts thwarted by untimely penalties.
St. Charles East was able to overcome most of its penalties. After Nicholas Candre drilled a 19-yard field goal to trim the Tomcats' lead to 6-3 at halftime, the Saints opened the second half with a 69-yard scoring drive, but not before a Dante Macaluso 23-yard touchdown run was called back because of holding.
When a chop-block call pushed the Saints back to the East Aurora 34-yard line, Wright found Macaluso with a 33-yard pass that set up Jett's 1-yard smash into the end zone. When Candre's extra point was wide, the Saints had a 9-6 lead.
"My line did a great job blocking for me and in the second half we adjusted and came out strong," Jett said. "The holes were there for me and I took them."
It stayed that way until late in the fourth quarter when Wright salvaged what appeared to be a broken play and flipped a lateral to Canales who scored from 10 yards out, carrying two defenders into the end zone with 2:16 left in the game.
Neither team could get a passing attack in gear, though Saints' quarterback Aiden Wright made the most of his 3 completions for 82 yards, connecting at critical times while on the move out of the pocket. Hoecker, meanwhile, also connected on only two completions for 32 yards and Andre Pearson completed one for 8 yards. In the Tomcats' final drive, Saints' defensive back Sebastian Grohe slammed the door with the game's only interception in picking off a Pearson pass.
Farquhar pointed to the effort of running back and linebacker Jack Russell as worthy of the night's MVP recognition. "He's a senior who played both ways and he really had a great game for us," Farquhar said.
Russell lined up in the triple option formation and picked up an important first down late in the third quarter with a 17-yard jaunt that helped the Saints command better field position.
"I enjoyed every minute on the field, and I usually don't get to play both ways and it's a different mentality on that side of the ball," Russell said. "It was fun to be on the field with those guys, and I enjoyed every second of it."