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Inspired WW South stops St. Charles East

Chase Keating was inspired.

The Wheaton Warrenville South senior's fourth-down sack of St. Charles East quarterback B.J. Crossen with just more than a minute to play cemented a 27-14 Tigers football victory against visiting St. Charles East on Friday night.

"Oh my gosh, it was great," Keating said of the sack that kept the Tigers undefeated at 4-0, 2-0 in the DuKane Conference. "I got subbed out at the end and I just told my coach, like, Coach, I've been in it this whole game. I really want to go back in just to make that final play and then I did and then right after I made that sack I came over to the sideline and gave him a big hug after that.

"It as a great feeling."

The Tigers, who won just two games in 2017, also were inspired by a special guest. Former Chicago Bears cornerback Charles "Peanut" Tillman spoke to the Tigers before the game, telling them, "Don't be scared to take a chance." Tillman also participated in the pregame coin toss with both teams' captains.

"Peanut, he talked about being a family, and I thought that was really important for football," Keating said. "We're all one big family over here. Even our all our fans over there, we love them. We love them. And this town, we all come together for these games. It's just awesome."

The Tigers took a chance to start the game, going deep to Jack Olson for a 68-yard pass play. The drive stalled, and Olson kicked the first of his two field goals on the night to give the Tigers the lead.

St. Charles East bounced took the lead in the second quarter when Crossen found Daniel Goetsch for a 30-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the second quarter.

The rest of the second quarter wasn't so good to the Saints (3-1, 1-1).

Tiwan Smith's 45-yard TD pass to Jeremy Lockett off a gadget play gave the Tigers the lead for good 10-7. Two plays after a Saints three-and-out, Tigers running back Jake Arthurs scored on a 29-yard TD run.

"I thought they did a really nice job," St. Charles East coach Bryce Farquhar said of the Tigers. "I mean they had a great game plan. They executed really well and you've got to give them a lot of credit for what they did and you know what? Hat's off to them. They came out and played a better game than we did tonight."

A Cedric Rowzee interception gave the Tigers the ball back again, and three plays after that quarterback Noah Henkel found Matt Brennan for an 18-yard TD. The Tigers led 24/7 at halftime.

"Offense, defense, special teams, we're rolling on all cylinders right now," Tigers coach Ron Muhitch said.

Crossen scored on a 10-yard TD run with 3:24 to play, but Keating made sure their next drive ended the suspense.

"I give a lot of credit to St. Charles East," Keating said. "They're a great football team. And I think this is like a really big win for us and people are going to start knowing who the Tigers are this year."

  Former Bears cornerback Charles "Peanut" Tillman took part in the coin toss before a Wheaton Warrenville South game Friday in Wheaton against St. Charles East. Orrin Schwarz/oschwarz@dailyherald.com
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