Huntley rolls over Woodstock
Huntley linebacker Gabriel Ortiz walked off the field proclaiming that it was a great day to be a Red Raider.
He was right.
Huntley racked up 49 points on Senior Night and invoked a running clock in its 49-7 Fox Valley Conference crossover victory over Woodstock Friday night.
Huntley led 28-7 at the half, but got a quick momentum injection when senior defensive back Frank Recchia returned the opening second-half kickoff 60 yards for a touchdown.
“We went in at the half up, but we knew we couldn’t let down. We came out with a big play like that. I’ve never (scored) before,” Recchia said.
The score was the first of Recchia’s football career and put Huntley (2-6, 1-4) up 35-7.
The senior sprinted past two Woodstock defenders and broke loose from a third on the scoring play.
“He sprinted very fast,” Red Raiders coach Matt Gehring said. “It was very apparent he really wanted to score. That set us up for the second half.”
Woodstock (1-7, 1-4) struggled to stop Huntley’s run all night. Senior Kyle Goettelmann scored twice in the second half on runs of 16 and 30 yards. Goettelmann finished with 91 yards on 9 rushes, with 4 runs of 10 yards or more.
“Kyle’s gotten faster running the ball each week,” Gehring said. “He’s on the ball faster and he’s making his cuts faster. Ethan (Connor) was our workhorse in the first half.”
Connor destroyed the Blue Streaks’ defense in the first half totaling 156 yards on 16 carries. The junior scored a pair of touchdowns on runs of 3 and 20 yards and finished the game with 191 yards.
Connor’s initial score tied the game at 7 in the first quarter and his second score came with 3:31 left in the first half. Even when quarterback Jake Brock scored on a 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, it came on a 54-yard drive in which Connor had 34 yards on the ground.
The defense did its part as well. Woodstock had 2 first downs on its opening scoring drive, but finished the first half with just 4 first downs and 6 in the game. Two of the first downs came off Huntley penalties.
Bryce Beschorner picked off Blue Streak quarterback Tyler Purkey and scored on a 56-yard return to give Huntley a 14-7 lead in the first quarter.