Larkin knocks off Streamwood
Senior defensive back Will Bowman saw his defensive linemen put pressure on Streamwood quarterback Brendon Marton late in the second quarter and there was nothing else he could do.
"When everyone does their job well, things like that happen," Bowman said of his third interception of the season with 38.1 seconds left in the first half that in large part helped Larkin grab a 34-14 Upstate Eight River win over the Sabres Friday at Millennium Field in Streamwood. "Our entire defense is a catalyst," Bowman added.
And that catalyst was badly needed for the Royals (4-2, 2-1), who trailed 7-0 to the Sabres and virtually had gone nowhere the first 18 minutes. After Kindrel Morris scored from 36 yards out on a speed option off the right edge down the sideline and a key block by Steven Sago on fourth-and-3, Larkin exploded for 20 unanswered points the final 3:31 of the second quarter.
A bad Streamwood (2-4, 1-3) snap on fourth down and subsequent tackle at the Sabre 8 with 2:06 left set up Royals quarterback David Hibbler's 4-yard run for a 13-7 lead. Bowman's pick 2 plays later at the Sabre 40 that was returned 31 yards allowed Hibbler to find Jason Morales for a 4-yard touchdown throw with 27.6 left for a 13-point halftime lead in a blink of an eye.
"That was a momentum swing when Bowman got that interception," Hibbler said. "It was time and we needed to capitalize so once he got that interception everyone had a lot of energy and we just took and held it."
Larkin recovered a fumble in the second half and added an 11-yard touchdown run from Hibbler in the third and a 66-yard run by Morris untouched in the fourth to put itself closer to a playoff berth, which hasn't been achieved since 2006. But the defense had 3 near-picks and owned a 281-252 total yards edge over Streamwood after being edged in the first half 108-101.
"Turnovers won the game," Larkin coach Dragan Teonic said as the Royals had a 4-1 advantage . "That's three weeks in-a-row that we were plus-3 and you do that kind of stuff you're going to win a lot of games."
Morris finished with 169 yards on 18 carries and 2 touchdowns while Hibbler converted 2 of 5 passes for 10 yards, a touchdown and an interception to go with 10 carries for 23 yards. Elijah Hernandez added 9 carries for 41 yards and Larkin only punted twice.
"Our team motto is 'take the next step' and when we take the next step we accomplish more," Hibbler added. "And when that opportunity came in the game, we took the next step."
Streamwood did have a step on the Royals, early, particularly WR/QB Jesse Rico. Marton (5-for-12, 68 yards, 1 INT) did start and found Rico down the right sideline on a 45-yard touchdown for a 7-0 Sabre lead with 11:08 left in the second quarter. But that and a 54-yard scamper by Malcolm Davis-Wilder (106 yards on 20 carries) that set up Rico's 1-yard run with 6:08 left in the third mainly inflated Streamwood's total yard numbers. Couple that with the turnovers and any momentum Streamwood had mounted early was lost.
"When you ask your defense to come up four big times right in a row there it's difficult," Sabres coach Don Guindon said. "That's why Larkin needs one more here and they'll get eligible and that's where their program's at and that's where we're trying to get."