Saints beat Neuqua, clinch piece of UEC title

ST. CHARLES – Living on the edge seems to fit St. Charles East just fine.

The Saints relied on their steely defense to pull out another squeaker on Friday night, prevailing 7-3 over Upstate Eight Conference foe Neuqua Valley.

The win clinched the Saints a share of the UEC title, was their second 7-3 win in a row and third straight victory by seven points or less.

"We were fortunate enough to get just enough tonight to get the 'W' and to move on and keep our dreams alive in the Upstate Eight," said East coach Mike Fields, who was not yet aware that Lake Park's loss to Waubonsie Valley clinched the Saints a share of the conference title.

After a first-half Wildcats' field goal that put Neuqua ahead 3-0 to close out the first half, the Saints refused to break the rest of the night, finishing off their stellar defensive effort with an interception on the far-right sideline by Tyler Nutting with four seconds remaining in the game.

"I was at the right spot," Nutting said. "It seemed like the ball was up there for a while. That's our D. We're just doing our job."

East struggled mightily on offense for most of the night, gaining only 13 total yards in the first half and 145 by the night's end.

It did however come through on its opening drive of the second half, snatching the momentum from Neuqua Valley (2-6, 2-3) and taking the lead.

A third-and-15 play that saw Zachary Zajicek roll out for a 26-yard gain got the Saints moving and a 32-yard pass from Nolan Possley to Jess Striedl took East to the 27-yard line.

On the next play, Possley connected with Nutting, who made a diving catch to take in the 27-yard TD reception with 9:44 left.

"That was huge," Fields said. "That was a heck of a drive. But it's got to be consistent. We have to get that block in the front. If we can't run the ball our play-action isn't going to open up."

After that, Neuqua made its way into East territory three more times, including a possession late in the third quarter where it got down to the 2-yard line, but couldn't come away with any points.

That particular drive was derailed by consecutive penalties that pushed the Wildcats back from the 2 to 22. A 15-yard offensive pass interference penalty on Dan Meaney for pushing off on Nutting took Neuqua out of the red zone and quarterback Jeffrey Samuel's next two passes sailed incomplete, resulting in a turnover on downs.

"Our defense has been fantastic," Fields said. "I love our defense. Just after that touchdown they ran past me and said, 'Coach, that's all we need.' I thought, 'I hope we can get you some more.'"

Neuqua also lost some precious time late in the game when it turned the ball over on a punt return that glanced of one of its players and into the arms of East's Patrick Hogan with 3:40 remaining. East punted after a three-and-out but the Wildcats were forced to use all their timeouts to slow the game down.

"It's been a long four weeks here," Neuqua coach Bryan Wells said of his team's slide. "When we did get it going (offensively) we were just missing it in the pass game. (The Saints) did on their one drive that they put together. That hurt. We had one blown coverage and they found the guy. You've got to give them so credit.

"We played well defensively but not well enough."

Joseph Ippolito and Alex Malandro both snagged interceptions for the Wildcats.

East last shared the conference title in 2007, when it did so with Waubonsie Valley.

ST. CHARLES EAST 7, NEUQUA VALLEY 3

Neuqua Valley        0    3    0    0   --   3

St. Charles East      0    0    7    0   --   7

NV – FG Snyder 20, :04

SCE – Nutting 27 pass from Possley (Keller kick), 9:44

Team statistics         NV         SCE

First downs                 13             8

Comp.-att-int.          19-51-1    4-8-2

Passing yards             182           91

Rushing-att-yds.        17-52      39-54

Total yards                 240         145

Fumbles-lost               2-1         1-0

Penalties-yards           6-40       2-10

Individual statistics

Rushing:

NEUQUA VALLEY — Ippolito 14-47, Camire 1-12, Matoesian 1-2, Samuel 1-(minus)-9.

ST. CHARLES EAST — Zajicek 16-52, Possley 22-(minus)2, Gomez 1-4.

Passing:

NEUQUA VALLEY — Samuel 18-45-1 142, Ippolito 3-6-0 40.

ST. CHARLES EAST — Possley 4-8-2 91.

Receiving:

NEUQUA VALLEY — Herzberger 6-62, Ippolito 6-22, Norgaard 1-43, Meaney 1-29, Menendez 2-11, Camire 3-15.

ST. CHARLES EAST – Striedl 2-51, Nutting 1-27, Johnson 1-13.