South Elgin shuts out Glenbard South
For most, the storm dissipated shortly after 4 p.m. on Friday night, but unfortunately not for the football players of Glenbard South.
The Storm continued for the Red Raiders until about 9:30 p.m. at the hands of South Elgin's 63-0 Upstate Eight Conference victory.
With so many offensive players making plays for the Storm, it almost seemed too easy for quarterback Ben Karpowicz.
"It's pretty easy (for me). All I have to do it get it in their (teammates) hands and let those guys make plays out there and they just do all the rest," Karpowicz said. "It just goes to show how hard you practice and then it shows up during the game. Next week is going to be a big game for us (vs. Bartlett), so hopefully we can go there and get some revenge from last year."
Storm coach Dragan Teonic felt as if his squad played well in all three phases Friday night - offense, defense and special teams.
"I thought our defense really played great tonight," Toenic said. "Honestly, I thought we played great in all three phases tonight. We blocked a punt, our offense played consistent, and I'm really proud of the way our defense played pitching another shutout."
South Elgin (7-0, 7-0) scored quickly and often and in multiple ways against Glenbard South (5-2, 5-2). Karpowicz gave the Storm a 7-0 lead with a 1-yard run on a keeper midway through the first quarter. After the Red Raiders punted, senior Marquis Gillespie II took off around the right tackle and ran 85 yards untouched for a 14-0 lead.
On their next possession, South Elgin took over in great field possession on the 30-yard line of the Red Raiders. Four plays later, Corve King took the ball in from 8 yards out, and Alex Norowol took it in again for the two-point conversion for a 22-0 lead.
A fumble by Glenbard South gave the ball back to the Storm and this time Davion Cherwin sprinted for an 83-yard touchdown to put the Storm up 29-0.
The Storm's defense continued to rain down on the Red Raiders, as Cherwin intercepted a pass to give South Elgin the ball back still only midway through the second quarter. Karpowicz scored from the 1-yard line and the Storm led 36-0.
Cherwin scored from 15 yards out and Samuel Robles added an 8-yard touchdown run before the half to give South Elgin a 49-0 lead.
The Storm added two more scores in the second half to close out the scoring. Gillespie II added a touchdown run and Cherwin capped off his night with his third touchdown with just over two minutes to play.
"I think they're (Glenbard South) better than what they showed tonight," Teonic said. "It really all comes down to momentum, and once that starts to shift, it can get out of control pretty quick. We want to be aggressive on our play calls and try to dictate that (momentum). We really tried to use the weather in our favor. The hard ball, the mud, that all played in our favor and I've been on both sides of that. We're looking forward to playing Bartlett next week after what they did to us last year, and we feel we've worked very hard to put ourselves in the position to earn that chance."