SC East gaining ground by committee

A crowded backfield is starting to take shape at St. Charles East.

The Saints had three players with at least six carries and 45 rushing yards in a 41-7 win against Streamwood on Friday. That running back-by-committee approach represents a change of pace for the program but will likely continue as coach Mike Fields tries to take advantage of an experienced offensive line.

East built a reputation for having a punishing ground attack the past three years as 2009 graduate Wes Allen racked up 4,323 yards and 60 touchdowns during that span.

No Saints player will come close to Allen's production this year, but that's fine with Fields.

Senior Matt Payne leads the team with 144 yards and five touchdowns on 24 carries. He ran for three scores against Streamwood, but it was shifty senior Cory Campbell who led the team with 12 carries for 69 yards in that contest.

Payne doubles as a defensive back for the Saints, meaning Campbell and junior Zach Zajicek will also see their share of carries.

"I said from the beginning that you're never going to replace a Wes Allen," Fields said. "We're trying to do it by committee. We don't want to put a lot of burden on Matt, who is playing defense all the time. So between Cory, Matt and Zach I think we can get a nice rotation and have a little three-headed monster back there."

Wave maintaining level approach -- Conventional wisdom says St. Edward might have to guard against becoming overconfident following last Saturday's 46-38 win against Immaculate Conception.

The triumph marked the biggest victory in years for the Green Wave, which is now the favorite to win the Suburban Christian Conference Gold Division after knocking off the defending state champion Knights.

But despite having an offense that is averaging 45 points and 477.7 yards per game, senior Shane Finnane says he and his teammates aren't about to start taking opponents lightly.

"We've looked past teams before, even when we were not so good," Finnane said. "A year ago we kind of looked past IC because we thought we were going to beat up on them, and we ended up losing by 20. So we know not to look past anybody."