Turnovers cost St. Charles East
By Craig Brueske | Daily Herald Correspondent
Published: 10/31/2009 9:44 PM
Falling behind early coupled with the inability to overcome mistakes helped lead to the demise of St. Charles East's football team Saturday afternoon.
The turnover-prone Saints (7-3) saw their postseason hopes come to an abrupt halt following a 26-7 loss to Rockton Hononegah (8-2) in the first round of the Class 7A state playoffs at Norris Stadium.
"It's just one of those days," said Saints coach Mike Fields. "We didn't execute very well and we didn't play our best game by any means. But I give Rockton a lot of credit there. They stripped the ball out of our hands a couple times."
St. Charles East committed 5 turnovers, including 4 fumbles that directly led to a pair of Rockton Hononegah touchdowns.
"You can't have turnovers like that and beat a quality football team," said Fields.
Running out of the Wing-T formation, Rockton Hononegah was especially effective in late-down situations where it converted 8-of-15 of its third- and fourth-down plays. The Indians' first touchdown, a 40-yard pass from Chase Robinson to Chris Grutsch midway through the opening quarter, came on a 3rd-and-4 play.
"A lot of things broke down and they took advantage of it," said Saints senior linebacker Sam Leopardo. "We thought it (Wing-T) would be perfect for our defense but you never know."
St. Charles East, which enjoyed a 188-129 edge in first-half offense, dug a deeper hole for itself when Rockton Hononegah's Skylar Purifoy recovered a muffed punt inside the Saints' 30-yard line.
From there, it took the Indians 10 plays to find paydirt as Robinson scored on a 1-yard sneak to make it 14-0. The key play on the short drive was an 8-yard pass from Robinson to Bryan Rothmaler on 4th-and-5 from the Saints' 24.
The Saints responded with an 11-play, 61-yard scoring drive capped by Nolan Possley's 27-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Nutting on 4th-and-10 with 1:48 left before halftime that sliced the deficit to 14-7.
"It was a little option pass that we drew up in the dirt," said Fields. "That's a great memory those kids are going to have."
However, the Saints' newfound momentum was quickly extinguished as the Indians marched 67 yards in 15 plays with the second-half kickoff to score a back-breaking touchdown - another 1-yard sneak by Robinson to make it 20-7.
"We just play our game," said Robinson, whose 6-yard run on 4th-and-6 from the Saints' 12 kept the drive alive. "We're not real flashy. We just go after people."
After the Saints failed to convert on 4th-and-3 near midfield, the Indians added some insurance on Tyler Zimmerman's 4-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter.
"They lull you to sleep and then they pop one," said Fields. "I think they completed at least three fourth downs. We weren't able to get a handle on them."
Junior tailback Zach Zajicek was the Saints' offensive bright spot, gaining 126 of his 141 yards in the first half. Possley (6-of-15, 74 yards) was held to 33 yards on 21 carries and sacked 3 times by Indians linebacker Clayton Lewis.
"There wasn't one thing that lost this game for us but a lot of little things," said Fields. "We've been very fortunate this year to have a lot of things go our way and today they just didn't go our way.
"I'm going to miss these seniors. They've done anything and everything we've asked them to do, and they've overcome so much. This game will not be their legacy. Their legacy will be as Upstate Eight champions."
Nevertheless, it's still disappointing whenever your senior season comes to an end.
"It's painful," said Saints free safety Bryce Barry, who also saw time as wide receiver Saturday. "I love my teammates and I love playing with them. I've been playing with these guys since I was little. Just knowing that this is our last game and walking off this field for the last time really hurts."