Cole Reyes caught two touchdown passes from Stacy Smith in a four-minute stretch that bridged the first and second quarter to propel Schaumburg to a 42-7 win over Glenbrook South in the opening round of the Class 8A playoffs.
Reyes finished with three catches for 121 yards, all going for touchdowns, including an 80-yard score on third-and-15 with less than two minutes to go in the first quarter.
Max Cohen threw an interception on Glenbrook South’s next series, and Smith found Reyes again in the end zone, this time for 16 yards and a 22-0 lead.
“I always tell my quarterback to look at me,” said Reyes, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior. “He was confidence in me, and we have a pretty good connection.”
Reyes scored on a 25-yard pass from Smith right before the half that gave the Saxons (8-2) a 29-0 advantage at intermission.
Meanwhile, the Titans (5-5) couldn’t get anything going on offense. Glenbrook South had three first downs, one courtesy of a penalty, and 25 total yards in the first two quarters.
“Our energy level wasn’t there,” said senior linebacker Sean Garvey. “It was hard to play from behind like that. We prepared hard all week, and I thought we were ready to go.”
The Titans showed signs of life after Garvey recovered a fumble in the third quarter. With a short field, Glenbrook South broke the shutout on Cohen’s 7-yard pass to Cody Carroll with 1:37 remaining in the third quarter.
But the Saxons answered with a five-play scoring drive to effectively put the game away.
The playoff loss snapped Glenbrook South’s streak of three consecutive seasons with at least one win in the postseason. Schaumburg moves on to the second round for the first time since 2010. The Saxons play either Niles West or Palatine, which beat Schaumburg 51-18 in the final week of the regular season.
