Breaking new ground
STREAMWOOD -- It continues to be a groundbreaking year for South Elgin.
Earlier during the 2009 campaign, the Storm won its season opener for the first time, and then put together its first-ever three-game win streak.
(Andrew A. Nelles/For The Courier-News)
On Saturday, the Storm added to the list of new achievements by winning its homecoming game for the first time with a 24-10 victory over Lincoln-Way North. It gives South Elgin four wins, a new watershed mark for the young program, and pulls the Storm to within one win of becoming playoff eligible.
"It has been a tremendous start to the year, not only for our football program, but for our entire school as a whole," said South Elgin coach Dale Schabert. "Just the atmosphere in the school, from the staff to the whole student body, right down to our team has been great. You really get a feeling that you're part of building something special. I think that overall positive feeling has played a big part in our success of the team."
Quarterback John Menken completed 13 of 21 passes for 201 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for another 64 yards and two more scores.
"It's a huge win for us," said Menken. "Not only to come out and win on homecoming, but to get four wins for the first time. We couldn't have done it without our O-line. They gave me all day to throw the ball."
With the scored tied at 10 early in the third quarter, Menken led the Storm on an eight-play, 96-yard drive for the go-ahead touchdown.
It all started with Menken running out of his own end zone for a 15-yard gain on a double reverse. Three plays later, Menken kept the drive alive, converting a third down and long by finding Sheldon Chaney with a 21-yard pass over the middle.
Later in the drive, Menken hooked up with his favorite target, Jake Kumerow, on a 34-yard pass to get down to the Lincoln-Way North 13-yard line. On the next play, Menken scored on a quarterback draw with 1:32 left in the third quarter.
"I let coach (Dave) Pater take over the play-calling on that drive," said Schabert. "I thought he could just add a new perspective. The kids responded well. It was just what we needed in a critical part of the game."
Menken had earlier engineered a 14-play, 62-yard drive to open the game that resulted in a 21-yard field goal by David Reisner.
In the second quarter, Menken drove the Storm 74 yards on nine plays for its first touchdown. A 38-yard pass to Kumerow set up a one-yard touchdown pass to Sean Kolber to put South Elgin up 10-7 at the time.
Kumerow had five receptions in the game for 144 yards.
"He's just an amazing athlete," said Menken. "It's just a great feeling as a quarterback to know you can throw the ball up to him knowing he's going to come down with it."
The only touchdown the Storm's defense gave up came on a halfback option play in the second quarter. In the second half, Lincoln-Way North managed to get across midfield only once.
The Storm allowed just 106 yards on the ground after struggling mightily to stop the run in previous weeks.
"I thought our linebackers, Sean Kolber and Jake Randich, and especially Justin Wright in the middle, stepped up big for us," said Schabert.
Bradley Birchfield rushed for 80 yards on 22 carries. He also had a 50-yard punt return to help set up an insurance one-yard touchdown run by Menken late in the game.
South Elgin 24, Lincoln-Way North 10
Lincoln-Way N. 0 10 0 0 -- 10
South Elgin 3 7 7 7 -- 24
SE -- Reisner 21 field goal, 4:56
LWN -- Snedden 29 pass from Hermle (Pergolizzi kick), 7:13
SE -- Kolber 1 pass from Menken (Reisner kick), 3:28
LWN -- Pergolizzi 45 field goal, 0:00
SE -- Menken 13 run (Reisner kick), 1:32
SE -- Menken 1 run (Reisner kick), 1:46
Team statistics LWN SE
First downs 8 17
Comp.-att-int. 14-22-0 13-21-0
Passing yards 166 201
Rushing-att-yds. 27-106 36-149
Total yards 272 350
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 3-15 3-25
Individual statistics
Rushing:
LWN -- Erickson 13-60, Hermle 8-30.
SE -- Birchfield 22-80, Menken 9-64, Hansley 4-5, Gardner 1-0.
Passing:
LWN -- Erickson 13-21-0 137, Hermle 1-1-0, 29.
SE -- Menken 13-21-0, 201.
Receiving:
LWN --Beniac 5-65, Snedden 2-36, Hermle 1-12.
SE -- Kumerow 5-142, McGinn 2-29, Chaney 4-23, Birchfield 1-6, Kolber 1-1.
