Cole Conn's huge game, late TD help St. Charles East squeak past Carmel

ST. CHARLES – It may have taken a fourth-quarter rally, but St. Charles East squeaked out a victory over the Carmel Corsairs 33-28 on Friday.

Colton Conn had a monster game on for the Saints (2-0) on the ground. Conn rushed 29 times for 199 yards and three touchdowns. Although he fumbled twice, head coach Bryce Farquhar said that he has faith in Conn to get the job done.

“Those fumbles were on the exchange,” Farquhar said. “I thought (Conn) was exceptional today. His gap reads and his ability to get an extra yard up field was awesome. We knew he was capable of that and we saw it all summer.”

Conn said that one of the Saints' new coaches has helped him become both a runner who relies on vision and a runner who can deal out punishment.

“Coach Nick (Edlund) has really been focusing on having us drop our shoulder whenever we make a cut,” Conn said. “That way they slide right off. I’ve been trying to work that as much as possible and keep running my feet until the end of plays, getting as many yards as possible.”

St. Charles East led 27-14 at the end of the third quarter, but Carmel (0-2) came back swinging behind an offense that totaled 382 yards on the night. The Corsairs eventually took a 28-27 lead in the fourth quarter, their first since they led the game 7-0 early.

“We had some mental errors, some footballs on the ground and two false starts that almost killed us there at the end,” Farquhar said. “Those running backs that they had were great players. We’ll be hard pressed to see two better running backs this season.”

The final drive of the game for the Saints was not without drama. After back-to-back false start penalties, the Saints faced second and 20 with just over a minute remaining.

That’s when quarterback Nathan Hayes shined, finding Clay Conn open down the field, drawing a defensive pass interference penalty. After connecting with Clay Conn on an out route for a first down that got out of bounds and stopped the clock, the Saints went back to their ground and pound, with Cole Conn finding the end zone for the third and final time of the evening.

Even though the Saints will enjoy a win and being 2-0, Conn said that when they get a team down like they did tonight, they need to lock in and put the game out of reach.

“You gotta keep chugging,” Conn said. “They swing once, you swing twice.”

For the Corsairs, this is their second close loss in two weeks. Carmel head coach Blake Annen stressed just how close he believes his team is to the cusp of being a winning program.

“I told my team we’re about one inch away,” Annen said. “We made some plays and we gave ourselves a chance there at the end. That’s all you can ask for. We’ll study the film and be ready for next week.”

Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled Edlund’s name.