Elgin dumps Dundee-Crown
Dennis Moore made more of a commitment to football during the summer.
The Elgin senior Friday night showed off all the hard work.
Moore scored on touchdown runs of 80 and 50 yards and returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown as the Maroons opened the season with a 34-19 victory over Dundee-Crown at Memorial Field.
“I focused a lot more on football this summer,” Moore said. “I’ve been lifting (weights) three days a week. It has definitely paid off. I feel like I can break more tackles this year. I feel like a lot stronger person.”
Moore is drawing interest from Mid-American Conference schools as a safety, but he can do plenty offensively and on special teams as well.
Elgin led 7-0 on a DeVante King 18-yard touchdown when Moore lost a fumble with 2:01 left in the first quarter, setting up the Chargers on the Maroons’ 13-yard line. Two plays later, D-C’s Ardian Asani scored the first of his 3 touchdowns on a 12-yard run to tie the game.
Moore made up for his mistake on the next play from scrimmage. He broke at least three tackles in the backfield, took the ball outside and scored on an 80-yard run.
“You preach the weight room, you preach the weight room. When they actually see the results, that’s nice to see,” Maroons coach Dave Bierman said of Moore. “He did a heck of a job preparing.”
King scored again with 3:56 left in the first half as Elgin took a 21-7 halftime lead.
Asani scored on a 7-yard run with 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter to make it 21-13 as the 2-point conversion failed.
On the ensuing kickoff, the ball bounced between Moore’s legs and rolled inside the 1. He picked up the ball, beat four D-C defenders inside the 10 and sprinted down the sideline for a 99-yard kickoff return. He added a 50-yard touchdown run with 38 seconds remaining.
Moore finished with 181 yards on 18 carries. Jake Bartelt added 50 yards rushing.
The loss was the 18th consecutive for the Chargers, who were playing their first game under coach Vito Andriola. Asani, who scored his third touchdown on a 3-yard run with 7:54 remaining in the fourth quarter, finished with 74 yards on 16 carries. D-C had only 117 yards of offense, including 11 in the first half.
“There were some good things here,” Andriola said. “They are starting to understand what we are doing and I think they are working hard. But we’ve got to practice better. We didn’t practice good this week.”