Pat Pistorio had good reason to wonder what he had gotten himself into during the first half of his debut as South Elgin’s coach last Saturday.
The Storm found itself facing a two-touchdown deficit in the first four minutes after St. Charles East scored on a hook-and-ladder play on its first play from scrimmage and added another score shortly thereafter. Making matters worse, South Elgin was having all kinds of trouble with its center-quarterback exchange as one high snap after another sent quarterback Rob Cuda scrambling.
By the end of the day, though, Pistorio had plenty of reason to be encouraged after the Storm scored 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. The rally proved too little, too late as the Saints hung on for a 35-27 win, but the final result was far from the rout that seemed to be in store after St. Charles East took a 28-0 lead into halftime.
“The fourth quarter was a nice indication of what type of kids we have and that they won’t give up,” Pistorio said.
There is plenty for South Elgin to work on going ahead, starting with snapping the ball from the shotgun formation.
Pistorio estimates a third of the team’s snaps were off target in the opener, which is something that caught the coaching staff off guard. A mid-game switch at the center position helped get things on track, but it remains an area of concern.
“We’ve got to scale it back a little bit and really focus on the basics,” Pistorio said. “Every day before practice (the centers are) taking 50 snaps with a defensive lineman lined up over them, and after practice they’re doing the same thing. That’s going to be the routine from here on out because we can’t afford to let our quarterback take a beating like he did because of the bad snaps.”
The task gets no easier for South Elgin this Friday as it travels to Benedictine University in Lisle to play Benet, which is ranked No. 17 in the Sun-Times Super 25 and is led on offense by quarterback Jack Beneventi, who has offers from Notre Dame, Louisville and Illinois among others. In Week 3 the Storm has it just as tough as it plays at Neuqua Valley, the No. 11 team in the Super 25.
“The kids are excited about the challenge,” Pistorio said. “They want a shot at the best and we have that built into our schedule.”
Green Wave ready for road trip
St. Edward is traveling long distance for its Week 2 game against West Hancock Coop at 2 p.m. Saturday in downstate Warsaw, which is located on the Mississippi River an hour west of Macomb.
The plan is for the Green Wave to leave Friday, practice that night at Monmouth College and spend the night in a hotel before kicking off the following afternoon.
“It’s a five-hour drive, and with the sophomores playing at noon and the varsity team playing at 2 it would have been an early start to go on the day of the game,” St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. “The football team funded the whole trip and the kids are able to get a good road-trip experience out of it.”
West Hancock, which is a coop between Hamilton and Warsaw High Schools, will be playing its season opener after its Week 1 opponent failed to field a varsity team. The Titans went 2-7 last year.
Player of the Week goes to Elam
St. Edward’s Davontae Elam had the top individual performance of Week 1. The senior running back ran for 214 yards and four touchdowns on 13 carries and also had a 79-yard touchdown reception in the Green Wave’s 43-21 win against Genoa-Kingston on Saturday.
