Prairie Ridge 38, McHenry 19
The Prairie Ridge Wolves improved to 3-0 with a 38-19 win over the McHenry Warriors in McHenry Friday. The Wolves are just taking it one game at a time after winning last week's contest against Cary-Grove.
"I told the guys that the win over Cary-Grove means nothing if we come out and lose to McHenry," said Wolves coach Chris Schremp. "It feels good starting the season 3-0."
McHenry tried surprising the Wolves with an onside kick to start the game, but the Wolves were able to recover the kick securing good field position. Wolves' running back Sam Campbell took things into his own hands from there. His first rush was for 31 yards that eventually set him up for a 4-yard touchdown run just four plays into the game.
McHenry was then stopped and forced to punt after the Wolves' defense shut them down on their first possession.
Campbell picked right up where he left things returning the punt 38 yards to give the Wolves excellent field position once again. Two plays later, Wolves' quarterback Bryan Bradshaw completed a 15-yard pass to Campbell that set up another 4-yard touchdown run for Campbell under 5 minutes into that helped put the Wolves on top 14-0.
The Wolves forced the Warriors three-and-out once again to get the ball back. The Wolves weren't able to get into the end zone this time, but Peter Shimp caught a pass for 15 yards that set up a 24-yard field goal from Cullen Fahey, last week's hero.
The Warriors answered with a 99-yard kick return by Mark D'Angelo to cut the Wolves' lead 17-7.
"We took a chance kicking to (D'Angelo) early and it worked out when Fahey kicked it out of the end zone. We tried kicking deep again and it didn't work out so well, so we (kicked) away from (D'Angelo) the rest of the game," said Schremp.
The Warriors couldn't stop the Wolves' offense. PR came right back with an 80-yard touchdown reception by Will Mack on just the second play that led to a 24-7 lead at halftime for the Wolves.
Genoa-Kingston 37, Hampshire 8: When your first three offensive snaps result in a holding penalty, a fumble and an interception it's going to be a long night.
And Friday night must of felt like an eternity for the Hampshire football team.
Genoa-Kingston scored 9 points off those 2 turnovers and the rout was on as the Cogs dominated the Whip-Purs, 37-8, in Genoa.
"It was tough for us," Hampshire junior Evan Brenner said. "We can't do that. We know that we have to hang onto the ball."
Hampshire (2-1) received the opening kickoff and had first down on its 36-yard line. A holding penalty set up a first-and-15. James Goebbert ran around left end, was hit hard and fumbled. The Cogs' Kevin Billington recovered the fumble on the Whip-Purs' 40. That set up a 25-yard field goal by Brad Hayes.
On Hampshire's next offensive play, Ethan Menges intercepted a Trace Teboda pass and the Cogs again started in Hampshire's territory. Five plays later Billington scored on a 3-yard run with 6:56 remaining in the first quarter.
"Those were big," Cogs coach Bill McCarty said. "Last year we were minus-16 in turnovers. That's one thing that we are trying to work on this year."
The Cogs, who are 3-0 for the first time since 1993, started their third possession again in the Whip-Purs' half of the field at the 46. Billington, who rushed for 135 yards, capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run as G-K led 16-0 after the first quarter.
The Cogs took a 23-0 lead when sophomore Ace McCarty, starting for an injured Chris Wilkins, hit K.C. McCarty for a 17-yard score with 5:19 remaining in the first half.
Brenner returned the ensuing kickoff 69 yards down to the Cogs' 13. Joe Moore's 13-yard touchdown run on the first play and Ron Laramie's 2-point conversion run brought Hampshire within two scores at 23-8.
"Genoa just flat out beat us," Hampshire coach Dan Cavanaugh said. "They controlled the line of scrimmage. That's where you're going to win football games."
The Whip-Purs had a chance to cut the deficit again late in the first half, but the Cogs' T.C. Holterhaus intercepted a pass in the end zone with 35 seconds left in the half to perserve the 23-8 lead.
Holterhaus added two touchdowns runs in the third quarter to help the Cogs beat the Whip-Purs for the first time since 1997.
"I have a lot of confidence that our kids will bounce back. They're tough kids," Cavanaugh said.
-- Brian Schaumburg
Woodstock 14, Huntley 0: Huntley's defense did its part.
As far as yardage and first downs go so did the offense.
All that was missing was the touchdowns. Woodstock, on the other hand, scored on a pair of long passes from junior quarterback Derek Brown to take a 14-0 victory against the Red Raiders at Woodstock's Larry Dale field in Fox Valley Conference crossover action.
Huntley (1-2) held Woodstock (2-1) to 254 total yards, but 95 of those yards came on Brown's 64-yard touchdown to Cole Freund and a 31-yard bomb to Ryan Ortman.
"As long as our defense is playing strong, we have a chance to turn things around," Huntley coach Steve Graves said. "We gave up two big plays."
Brown first connected with Ortman (3 receptions, 58 yards) with 4:19 left in the first half to put the Blue Streaks up 7-0. The play capped off a 10-play, 80-yard drive which ate up 4 minutes, 10 seconds off of the clock.
Brown made it 14-0 when he hooked up with Freund (18 rushes, 83 yards) with 4:52 left in the third quarter.
The Red Raiders responded with a 10-yard drive that ended in a punt, which was followed by an 11-play drive. Huntley had a chance to score with a first-and-10 on the Woodstock 11, but two failed running attempts were followed by a huge sack and an incomplete pass giving Woodstock the ball back with 5:16 remaining.
Huntley had three drives of 10 or more plays in the first half. The Red Raiders drove 55 yards in their opening drive and picked up 3 first downs before a sack forced a fourth-and-25. Huntley's third drive ended similarly when the Red Raiders were faced with a fourth-and-11.
"We felt like we were pushing the ball up and down the field," Huntley running back Jordan Neukirch said. "We needed to finish it off with a touchdown."
Huntley's final drive of the half, which lasted 13 plays, looked the most promising as the Red Raiders had a first-and-10 on the 22. The drive ended when Huntley was whistled for a penalty and quarterback Casey Popenfoose (3 of 14, 31 yards) threw 3 incomplete passes.
"We talked about that before the game," Graves said. "A penalty is as good as a turnover."
The Red Raiders finished the first half with 10 first downs and held a 16-8 advantage over Woodstock in the game. Huntley also gained more rushing yards (186-118) than the Blue Streaks in the game and finished with 24 more offensive plays (70-46).
Huntley was led by Austin Douglas (13 rushes, 112 yards) and Neukirch (12 rushes, 49 yards).
"If you can't get 14 points in a ballgame, you're not going to win," Graves said. "From an offensive standpoint, you need to find a way to get 3 or 4 scores a game."
-- Matt Stacionis
Larkin 42, Bartlett 35: A good passing performance by Cam Kinley coupled with an inability to make clean tackles for Bartlett resulted in a 42-35 win for Larkin to begin Upstate Eight Conference play.
Kinley finished the game 23 of 34 for 364 yards as he was able to dump the ball and let his receivers do the work.
"They all have some speed," said Hawks coach Tom Meaney of the Larkin offense. "They're tough as nails. We just needed to tackle a little bit better."
However, it was a 70-yard interception return by Nick Bee with 7:26 left in the game that sealed the deal for the Royals as it put Larkin up 42-21.
Larkin scored the game's first 2 touchdowns with a 78-yard TD pass to Jake Kane followed by a 15-yard TD pass to Dillon Smith to finish the first quarter 14-0.
Kane caught a 22-yard TD pass to end the half ahead after the Hawks scored a pair of touchdowns.
"We have the ability to score points," said Royals coach Dave Bierman. "That's huge for the kids."
Kinley had one more TD pass with a 67-yard reception by Bee followed by a QB sneak for Kinley both in the third quarter.
But the main factor was the Royals' ability to eat the clock once they had the lead.
"We did more things to eat up the clock," Bierman said. "Last week we give up 75 points because we'd score quickly and give the other team the ball right back."
For Bartlett, the Hawks did put up a fight near the end as they were down by 3 touchdowns.
After the interception return for Larkin, Jayson Blendowski took a kickoff return back for a 60-yard touchdown which gave the sideline some hope.
Soon after making a defensive stop, Josh Hasenberg, who finished 15 of 27 for 231 yards, threw a 25-yard TD pass to Alex VanNess, but only 58 seconds remained on the clock.
Vinnie Libreri scored the Hawks' first 2 TDs, each on 22-yard runs in the second quarter, while finishing the night with 150 yards on 22 carries.
"The run game should improve the passing game. We're mixing up the plays fine," said Meaney. "Eighty-five percent of the time, when a team scores 35 points, they're going to win. That just shows how good Larkin is."
-- Seth Hancock
Girls volleyball
FVLA d. Christian Liberty: After dropping Game 1 of a 3-game set 25-9, Fox Valley Lutheran Academy (3-3) bounced back to defeat Christian Liberty by scores of 25-19 and 25-17 despite playing with just five.
Sarah Mounger (5 digs, 4 aces, 5 kills, 2 assists), Catie Mazur (ace, kill), Samantha Pfortmiller (ace, kill, 7 assists) and Alicia Woock (3 kills, assist, 5 digs) led the attack. Meghan Pfortmiller added 2 kills.
Girls golf
Prairie Ridge d. CL Central: With a 45, Allison Holly led Prairie Ridge (4-1, 2-0) and all scores as the Wolves picked up this 198 to 204 Fox Valley Conference Fox Division win the par 37 at Prairie Isle Golf Course. Ashley Dunn added a 45, and Brittany Johnson shot a 51 en route to the win.
Boys golf
Harvard d. Hampshire: While Hampshire's Jeff Cohn led all scores having shot a 44 at the Oak Club of Genoa, Hampshire dropped this Big Northern East Conference contest to Harvard by just one stroke at 192 to 193. Grant Yoder shot a 47 for the Whips.
Boys soccer
Cary-Grove 4, CL Central 3: Trailing on three separate occasions, Cary-Grove (7-0) came from behind and later took a lead which they held on to to remain unbeaten with this nonconference victory.
John Oberlies opened up the scoring and later scored the winning goal on a header with 14 minutes left to play. Conor Keady and Andy Martin (Mike Chiodo assist) scored in between to keep the Trojans in the game.
In goal, Keenan Walsh recorded 5 saves.
Women's volleyball
Judson drops two: Opening play at the Illinois Tech Invitational, Judson fell to Cornerstone University in three games by scores of 30-10, 30-13, 30-23 before later losing to Trinity Christian in five games (30-26, 28-30, 23-30, 20-27, 15-6).
Debra Leganski had 47 digs for the Eagles (4-4) versus Trinity Christian.
Men's soccer
Fresno Pacific 1, Judson 0: Judson (3-1-1) dropped its opener at the Rio Grande Tournament in Ohio to Fresno Pacific (3-0-1).