Vengeance, again, is Cary-Grove's
It was truly Lake Zurich's misfortune to catch visiting Cary-Grove on its continuing revenge tour.
On opening night, the Trojans avenged a loss to Wheaton North.
Week 2 came Friday night in Lake Zurich.
Riding a sophomore back named Tyler Pennington (25 carries, 164 yards, TD), the Trojans stifled the unbeaten Bears 24-7 in a nonconference game.
"Lake Zurich was very tough,'' Pennington said. "They were tough last year and handled us. We made a statement tonight."
Pennington made his own statement on the Trojans' opening drive of the contest. The march went 77 yards and ate up most of the first quarter. The sophomore handled the ball five times before taking it the final 5 yards for the game's first score.
"I'm worn out,'' Pennington said. "I'll be hurting tomorrow."
Pennington had 7 carries on the next Cary score. This time, however, Cary-Grove quarterback, Jason Gregoire took a rare passing attempt to put the Trojans up by a pair of scores. Zach McQuade caught the 7-yard scoring play and Cary-Grove took that 14-0 lead to halftime.
"Cary was very good,'' said Lake Zurich coach Dave Proffitt. "We could have played better. But Cary is very good football team and we knew that coming in."
Neither team could move the ball for most of the third quarter. And then seemingly out of nowhere, Lake Zurich quarterback Joey Lindstrom made the big play. After chalking up 14 yards by himself on the ground, he struck through the air and hit Ben Klett on a 66-yard TD pass. Suddenly, Lake Zurich (1-1) was back in the game.
"Give them credit,'' Proffitt said. "We made the big play and they came right back. We couldn't get a turnover on defense."
Pennington had his best run of the game (39 yards) as the Trojans drove the ball into Lake Zurich territory. Kevin Hughes broke loose from 17 yards and the Cary-Grove lead was restored to 21-7.
If Lake Zurich's struggling offense had a bright spot on this night, it came from the hard running of senior Nick McCoy. He took a page from Pennington's book and carried four straight times in one stretch in the second quarter.
"We really like Nick's attitude,'' Proffitt said. "He really wants to win."
McCoy noted he can play both tailback and halfback.
"My coaches know best,'' McCoy said.
McCoy admitted his team lost the possession game in this defeat.
"Offensively, we let our defense out there too long,'' he said.
In the fourth quarter, McCoy broke a few tackles on the way to a 31-yard pass play from Lindstrom. The Bears got as far as the Cary 17-yard line before the drive sputtered out.
"We really had no consistency both offensively or defensively,'' Proffitt said. "But we will recover from this and live to fight another day. It's just a bump in the road. It's another learning experience."