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South Elgin overcomes turnovers, Glenbard South

Turnovers put South Elgin in the unfamiliar spot of trailing at halftime during Thursday's Upstate Eight game at Glenbard South.

But recovering a couple of them early in the third quarter allowed the Storm to take control of the game during a 31-20 come-from-behind triumph.

"Our defense held them up and they didn't score in the second half," South Elgin quarterback Ben Karpowicz said. "Our offense really hurt our defense giving them the ball, and giving them a touchdown (in the first half), and they weren't the defense's fault, and then we held them off."

South Elgin (3-0) received the ball to open the second half and was unable to move the chains on that possession, but got the ball right back when the Raiders fumbled the punt. The Storm turned it into a 30-yard field goal to pull within 20-17.

Glenbard South (1-2) coughed the ball right back to the Storm once again on the ensuing kickoff and this time the Raiders paid handsomely as Davion Cherwin (15 carries, 142 yards) took it in for a 1-yard touchdown for a 24-20 lead midway through the third quarter.

The Storm scored twice on their first three possessions of the second half while the Raiders offense remained on the sideline.

"This a situation where we gave them a game by those two plays (turnovers) so the field position was everything," Glenbard South coach Ryan Crissey said. "It's unfortunately another step in terms of us losing a game and a team not beating us."

The Raiders had one drive in the second half where they got into the red zone, but a holding penalty backed them up and they proceeded to turn the ball over on downs.

Cherwin then gave the Storm some breathing room, narrowly taking it in for a score after a 60-yard run down to the Glenbard South 1-yard line where Karpowicz blasted in for the sneak with 8:37 remaining.

"Our offensive line gave us a great push and we were never worried about their defensive line," Karpowicz said. "We were pushing them around and we were able to run the ball at them. We were never out of the game plan, we kept hitting them in the mouth and moving the ball."

In the first half, Cade Hardtke (12 carries, 96 yards) ran for a 10-yard touchdown and also connected with Dominic D'Ambra for a 16-yard score after the Raiders gained possession on a turnover.

Cherwin had a 38-yard touchdown run and Karpowicz lofted a perfect pass to the corner of the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown to Jalen Jones to account for the Storm's two early scores.

Glenbard South took a 20-14 lead into halftime after Connor Murphy recovered a fumble in the end zone with 5:08 left in the second quarter.

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