Cary-Grove breaks through Hampshire
Needing a spark, Cary-Grove found one in Quinn Baker. The junior quarterback came off the bench to score 4 touchdowns and lead the Trojans past Hampshire, 35-6, on Homecoming Saturday at Al Bohrer Field in Cary.
The Whip-Purs weren’t intimidated by the Trojans in this Fox Valley Conference crossover. In fact, the Whips got the ball inside the Cary-Grove 10-yard line twice in the first quarter, but came away with no points.
But the Trojans couldn’t move the ball, either. Their first 4 drives ended in 2 punts and 2 lost fumbles.
Cary-Grove finally got a break when Sam Babick recovered a fumble at Hampshire’s 1-yard line. At that point, Baker, who normally shares time with starter Corey Laktas, came in and his first play from scrimmage was a 1-yard TD run.
Baker added a second TD before halftime. But the Trojans really broke the game open when, on their first offensive play of the second half, Baker broke through a crowd in the middle of the field and raced 90 yards for a score.
“We’re fortunate, we’ve got two good quarterbacks,” said Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg. “Quinn was reading things a little better and he was making some plays, so we just kind of stuck with him for this game. We’d been rotating them a little bit in the first two games, and we just kept Quinn in there.”
Baker scored again later in the third quarter, finishing with 193 yards on his Baker’s dozen carries. Marcus Thimios added a TD for the Trojans (3-1).
“We were struggling in the first half to execute, and we just thought that if we could mix it up a little bit, we could have some success,” said Baker. “We really went to the basics. We didn’t do anything too complicated and it worked out for us. Our offensive line executed really well.”
Hampshire finally got on the scoreboard with 3:11 to play following a 13-play, 73-yard scoring drive. Chase Lundry, who finished with 104 yards on 24 carries, took it over from 4 yards out.
The Whip-Purs recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff but could not score again.
“Defensively, it’s like holding back this tidal wave,” said Hampshire coach Dan Cavanaugh. “We fought and fought and fought and, every once in awhile, they’re going to break a big one.”
After Hampshire (0-4) forced a punt on the game’s first possession, Lundry broke a 45-yard run to the Trojans’ 8. But Cary-Grove’s defense stiffened, forcing 2 incomplete passes from the 5-yard line.
Cary-Grove fumbled on its next possession, and Ben Bednarek recovered at the Trojan 8. After 2 runs gained 4 yards, Josh Buckingham intercepted Kyle Anderson’s third-down pass in the end zone to end that threat.