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South Elgin has a 'special opportunity'

The South Elgin football team kept to a crisp schedule on an unseasonably warm November Wednesday in preparation for Brother Rice, Saturday's Class 8A second-round playoff opponent.

Following an after-school film session, the Storm boarded busses to Streamwood for practice on the artificial carpet at Millennium Field, a playing surface similar to the Crusaders' 10-year-old turf.

South Elgin, with a victory, would become the first of Elgin Area School District U-46's five high schools to reach a state quarterfinal since Bartlett advanced to the 8A semis in 2008.

"All the work we put in during the off-season has paid off so far," senior outside linebacker Justin Nutof said. "It's a great feeling having this many wins under our belt. Just trying to make school history and trying to go somewhere this school has never been is a great feeling."

South Elgin coach Pat Pistorio, a 1998 Larkin graduate, has tried this week to explain to his players how their success rubs off on the U-46 community as a whole.

"They understand how special an opportunity this is," South Elgin's third-year coach said. "I'm from Elgin, so I try to let them know how significant this is for a public school with Elgin attached to the name, that there's more to this than they think. We want them to be levelheaded and we want them to be calm, but to have an Elgin-area public school do something like this is exciting for everyone."

No. 12 South Elgin (9-1) won the Upstate Eight Conference's Valley Division, eclipsed the former school record of 7 victories in a season and has equaled the program's deepest playoff run, but the Storm enter as underdogs against No. 5 Brother Rice (9-1). Last week the Crusaders throttled Bartlett 49-0 in the first half en route to a 49-21 win. South Elgin defeated Bartlett 27-19 on Sept. 19.

Brother Rice is led offensively by quarterback Cam Miller and wide receivers Ricky Smalling and Julian Blain. Against Bartlett, the trio accounted for 232 yards and 5 touchdowns, including three scoring plays of 60-plus yards.

Named the Chicago Catholic League Blue's most outstanding offensive player, Miller has been a revelation in his first year as Brother Rice's starter. The senior has completed 202 of 285 passes (70.9 percent) for 2,541 yards and 34 touchdowns. It helps to have a talented receiver like Smalling, a 6-foot, 185-pound junior with offers from Wisconsin, Illinois and Virginia.

"I was happy with the way our guys played the run, but (Smalling) is just tough," Bartlett coach Tom Meaney said Tuesday. "He has huge legs. South Elgin has a tough game this week. Man, oh man."

The Storm intend to counter the Brother Rice passing game by playing two of their talented wide receivers - seniors Andrew Kamienski (5-11) and Derek Kumerow (6-3) - more on defense than in recent weeks. South Elgin will also count on junior Nico Woods (5-8, 150), an emerging cornerback named the team's defensive player of the week in two of his last three games.

Bartlett's coach thinks South Elgin could find room to throw against the Brother Rice pass defense. "We threw the ball well but we dropped the ball a lot," Meaney said. "South Elgin shouldn't do that."

Meanwhile, a South Elgin offense averaging 42.4 points per game will test a Brother Rice defense that limits opponents to 21.7 points. Storm quarterback Jake AmRhein has completed 140 of 226 passes (61.9 percent) for 1,820 yards and 23 touchdowns with only 5 interceptions. His top targets are Kamienski (46 receptions, 753 yards, 9 touchdowns) and Kumerow (47 rec., 595 yards, 5 TD).

Pistorio said he doesn't want the game to "turn into a track meet" between the respective passing games. He said South Elgin will run the ball at the Brother Rice defense 20 to 30 times with senior tailback Shawn Griffin, recently named UEC Valley offensive player of the year. Griffin has carried 187 times for 1,544 yards and 21 touchdowns, including 5 touchdowns last week in a 62-10 victory over Evanston.

"It's pretty critical to keep scoring every time we get the ball because Brother Rice is a pretty powerful team," Griffin said.

Back in the fold: No. 7 Geneva (9-1) returns a key weapon to its offense Friday when the Vikings travel to No. 23 Bradley-Bourbonnais (7-3) for a second-round clash in Class 7A.

Senior wideout Jack Wassel (6-2, 175) has been cleared to rejoin the lineup after missing 4 games due to a violation of team rules, according to Geneva coach Rob Wicinski. Wassel was one of quarterback Sean Chambers' top targets prior to his suspension with 25 receptions for 387 yards and 6 touchdowns.

What kind of effect will his return have on the Geneva offense?

"I don't know but we're absolutely going to find out," Wicinski said.

Firing out fast and low: No. 5 Cary-Grove (9-1) faces a team with superior size when the Trojans welcome No. 12 Benet Academy (8-2) to Al Bohrer Field for a Class 7A second-round playoff game on Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Redwings knocked off No. 21 St. Charles North 21-14 last week, thanks in part to the return from injury of offensive linemen Trent Kramer (6-2, 265) and Patrick O'Meara (6-4, 240). They helped pave the way for running back Alec McEachern's 37 carries for 195 yards and 2 touchdowns.

"We've got to do something to disrupt what they want to do on offense," Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg said Wednesday. "They're so big and powerful that if we get locked up with their offensive linemen, we will really have a tough time. We have to use our speed and our ability to play at a low pad level to our advantage."

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