Round up: CL South over Woodstock
It seemed the lightning delay in the second quarter of Friday's Valley Division opener at Crystal Lake South only invigorated Woodstock.
The Blue Streaks came back in the second quarter to take a 10-6 lead when Woodstock quarterback Derek Brown spotted Ryan Ortman with 4:26 left in the second quarter.
But the Gators roared back with 21 unanswered points to win the Valley Division opener 27-10 in Crystal Lake Friday night.
The Gators got the ball back at the end of the third quarter when Woodstock (3-2, 0-1) made a mistake. Sitting fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line, Woodstock coach Steve Beard was whistled for running onto the field to call a timeout. The Blue Streaks were backed up to fourth-and-22 and couldn't convert.
The Gators moved up the field on a 27-yard run by Colin Masterson to the Woodstock 38-yard line and Ian Ormseth's 14-yard pass to Ryan Kelley to the 24-yard line.
Eric Mortensen capped the drive on a 1-yard plunge with 7:40 remaining to put the Gators ahead 13-10.
CL South (5-0, 1-0) caught a break on the ensuing kickoff. The Gators swift kicked and the ball hit a Woodstock player in the back. The Gators recovered the loose ball and used the fortuitous break to score shortly thereafter.
Ormseth found Kelley for a 20-yard scoring play with 4:54 to play, giving the Gators a 20-10 lead.
A 15-yard scoring run by Kelley with approximately three minutes left sealed the win for the undefeated Gators.
Marian Central 30, St. Edward 0: Unfortunately, in 2007, St. Edward's success on the football field can't be measured with victories.
Despite, playing Marian Central, the top ranked team in Class 5A tough for a half, the Green Wave fell to the Hurricanes 30-0 in a Suburban Catholic Conference game at Marian Central Friday night.
It was the 25th straight loss for the Green Wave (0-5, 0-3) while the top ranked Hurricanes are 5-0 overall and 3-0 in SCC play.
St. Edward played right with the powerful Hurricanes in the first half.
The Green Wave defense held Marian Central to only 10 points during the first 24 minutes.
Marian Central didn't get on the scoreboard until the 4:42 mark of the first quarter when TJ Pappas reached paydirt from 8 yards out.
Alec Grazier's kick gave Marian a 7-0 lead.
The Hurricanes' only other points came on a 26-yard field goal by Grazier with 5:22 remaining in the first half as Marian Central held a 10-0 advantage at halftime.
"We have had a lot of lapses on defense this season, but the kids played a great first half," said St Edward coach Mike Rolando. "We threw a bunch of sophomores out there and they did a great job. "
Marian Central, which threw 16 times in the first half, abandoned the passing game on the first drive of the second half.
Chewing up 7 minutes and 18 seconds, The Hurricanes marched 82 yards in 15 plays For a touchdown. The drive comprised of 12 runs and 3 passes as Pappas scored from 1 yard out with 4:42 remaining. The kick by Grazier was good and the Hurricanes led 17-0.
"We didn't pound the ball enough in the first half," said Marian Central coach Ed Brucker. "We wanted to come out in the second half and establish the Run and play smash mouth football. That first drive was very important We were very patient."
The Hurricanes did score their final 2 TDs via the airwaves. Andrew Stochl, subbing for the injured Jonathan Budmayr, tossed a 6-yard TD to Erik Reibel and threw a 23-yard touchdown strike to Jordan Peart.
Stochl ended the game, completing 16-of-24 passes for 219 passes and 2 scores with 1 Interception by St Edward defensive back Josh Scholly. Peart caught 9 passes for 114 yards and a score for the winners.
St. Edward, which didn't have any passing yardage, managed 102 yards on the ground.
Jimmy Mathisen paced the Green Wave with 33 yards on 9 carries as the visitors from Elgin could only pick up 6 first downs.
-- Dave Hess
Waubonsie Valley 38, Elgin 15: The Waubonsie Valley football team needed to find a stimulant for its struggling offense.
Tyler Castro and Ty Williams was just what the Warriors needed.
Williams caught a pass from Castro on a slant pattern and beat the Elgin defense to the end zone with 11 seconds remaining in the first half to give Waubonsie the lead. The Warriors eventually scored 31 unanswered points to beat the Maroons, 38-15, at Memorial Field.
"I think that could have been the biggest thing because we needed momentum," Castro said. "You could tell in the first half we were dead, obviously that play sparked some energy and we built on that."
Elgin (2-3, 0-2 Upstate Eight) scored on the opening drive of the game. The Maroons went 80 yards in 10 plays capped by a Tom Roth 6-yard touchdown pass to James Duncan to take a 7-0 lead.
Waubonsie (3-2, 2-1) got on the scoreboard with a 28-yard field goal from Mitch Ewald 3 seconds into the second quarter. The Warriors gained 65 yards on that drive, but had just 14 on their three other possessions of the first half before they got the at Elgin's 48 with 56 seconds left in the first half.
Kenny Williams sacked Castro for a 7-yard loss.
Kenny Harrington followed with a 6-yard run. Castro then hit Williams, who made a nice play on the ball, for a 49-yard touchdown to give the Warriors a 10-7 halftime lead.
"That was a huge emotional lift," Waubonsie coach Paul Murphy said. "We knew we might be a little flat to start the game, but I thought we were going to be ready to play. It just took a while to get going after the Neuqua game last week."
The Warriors used the momentum to quickly put the Maroons away. Castro hit Drew Warden for a 2-yard score on the first possession of the second half. Elgin was forced to punt on its first possession, but a bad snap on the punt attempt allowed Waubonsie to get the ball in the Maroons' 2-yard line.
Castro scored on the next play as the Warriors took a 24-7 lead with 6:58 remaining in the third quarter.
Later in the quarter Waubonsie's Kevin Garbis blocked a bunt, giving the Warriors the ball on Elgin's 20. Two plays later Castro found Ben Smith for a 21-yard touchdown and a 31-7 lead.
"We started having some special-team breakdowns again. We also had some penalties that killed the momentum here and there," Maroons coach Tom Kim said. "When you put yourself in that kind of situation it becomes really difficult to open up what you want to do."
Roth and Duncan combined for a 57-yard touchdown and again for a 2-point conversion with 6:11 remaining in the game to cut the deficit to 31-15. Roth threw for 194 yards, 105 going to Duncan.
Harrington, who finished with 140 yards on 23 carries. added a 15-yard touchdown run with 3:41 left to complete the scoring.
Castro was 5-for-12 for 146 yards and three touchdowns for the Warriors.
-- Brian Schaumburg
Neuqua Valley 56, Larkin 39: Neuqua Valley running back Anton Wilkins made Wildcat history Friday night by rushing for a school-record 345 yards on 33 carries.
As it turned out, the Wildcats needed every yard, holding off Upstate Eight foe Larkin and its high-octane spread offense 56-39 in Naperville.
Wilkins broke former Wildcat Brian Johnson's rushing record of 252 yards set in 1998.
"There's not much I can say. I credit my coaches, my offensive line, my whole teammates. They had the faith in me," said Wilkins. "This (win) is big. We were just looking for a time where we could come out and dominate our side of the ball."
Larkin (2-3, 2-1) started fast with quarterback Cam Kinley hitting Jake Kane for an 80-yard touchdown on the second play of the game.
Neuqua (2-3, 2-1) quickly answered with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Alex Lincoln to Conner Yearian. The two teams combined for 34 points in the first quarter alone.
While Wilkins was busy slicing and dicing his way through the Royals defense, it was the play of a special teams player that changed the momentum of the game.
Senior kicker Nick Schneider used a strong wind out of the south in the first quarter to drive every kickoff out of the end zone, preventing speedy returner Nick Bee from running the ball back.
In the second quarter Schneider pooched two high kicks into a swirling wind. Both plays were recovered by Neuqua Valley and were turned into points.
"We really needed to be able to put the ball in the end zone with our offense and we were able to do that," said Wildcats coach Bryan Wells. "We had been struggling with that. We needed every point that there was out there to have.
Larkin nearly matched Neuqua's touchdowns for the first three quarters behind Kinley's strong game. The senior quarterback threw for 407 yards and 5 touchdowns but was forced to scramble out of the pocket repeatedly in the second half as the Wildcats applied more pressure.
"In the second half, they started blitzing off the corners and gave me a lot of pressure," Kinley said. "I still tried to do what I could to get some time back there. It's upsetting we keep giving up these many points and losing after we score so many points."
Said Larkin coach Dave Bierman: "I told these kids coming in this is probably the best 1-3 team you'll ever face. Defensively, we need to get a stop now and then."
-- Dennis Van Millegan
Thornton Fractional South 21, South Elgin 7: A great defensive performance couldn't overcome dropped pass after dropped pass by Storm receivers as Thornton Fractional South defeated South Elgin 21-7 Friday night in a nonconference game at Millennium Field.
The game was decided by the end of the first half as Rebels quarterback Ryan Rizzi, with just 37 seconds left in the half, drove the ball 47 yard capped by a 35 yard touchdown pass to Kevin Bradley to go into the break with the 14-7 lead.
The Storm had tied the game right before as Peter Scaffidi threw a 4 yard pass to Jordan Uvegas after the drive was kept alive on a fake punt earlier as Shawn Ryan threw a first down pass to Cody Myers.
"We went for it and executed and scored," said Storm coach Dale Schabert. "At that point, we were down and took the chance."
The Rebels scored their first touchdown on their first drive of the game driving 79 yards with a 15 yard run by Cordaro Jackson for the touchdown.
The second half saw only one touchdown from the Rebels defense as Scaffidi had a pass tipped into DeMario Cage's hands as he ran 60 yards to the end zone.
"You can't blame Pete for that one," Schabert said. "It was tipped right into the defenders hand."
For the Storm's air attack, Scaffidi finished 12-32 with only 75 yards as it seemed like no Storm receiver could catch the ball.
"I don't know what it was. I couldn't count how many dropped passes we had on my fingers and toes alone," Schabert said.
With the ineffective passing game, the Storm went to the run with little time to spare, and they couldn't get anything going as they ran for only 77 yards.
"I didn't know what else to do," Schabert said. "Offensively, we didn't do our job. That starts and end with me."
"We did not play good today," Scaffidi said. "It wasn't a good effort on our side of the ball."
For the Rebels, their offense was not much better as Rizzi went 4-9 with 79 passing yards while their running backs went for 148 yards.
"Our defense really stepped up and played well, said Rebels coach Tom Padjen. "Offensively, we didn't do much. We had only that one big play at half that gave us the lead."
-- Seth Hancock
McHenry 48, Dundee-Crown 12: The Dundee-Crown Chargers were unable to recover after falling behind early against the McHenry Warriors Friday losing 48-12.
McHenry opened the game off with an 89 yard kick return by Mark D'Angelo that led to an early 7-0 advantage.
McHenry was able to hold Dundee-Crown from answering and struck again quickly during their second play on offense. Mike Soto took off for 49-yards that left the Chargers trailing 13-0 just minutes into the game.
In the second quarter, D-C was able to move the ball up the field with the help of Ian Salvantini that set up a 14-yard touchdown run from Ryan Horcher to cut the lead to 13-6.
McHenry just didn't let up answering with 21 unanswered second quarter points to take 34-6 lead that included a 45-yard fumble return for a touchdown and a 64-yard interception return for a touchdown.
"You can't give up 21 points to anyone early and expect to win," Dundee-Crown coach Mike Davis said.
"The kids just need to keep going out there and playing hard."
-- Todd Johnson
Girls golf
Prairie Ridge d. Jacobs: Prairie Ridge improved to 9-1 on the season and 5-0 in the Fox Valley Conference with this 194 to 236 win over Jacobs at Prairie Isle Golf Course.
Ashley Dunn shot a medalist round on the par 37 course to lead the Wolves with a 43. Allison Holly shot a 48.
Maria Tamburrino led the Golden Eagles with a 52.