Huntley rolls up the points again

Huntley's goal is to be playing a couple of months from now when cold, rainy and windy conditions are a part of playoff football.

The Red Raiders showed on an unseasonably miserable mid-September Friday night that their offense won't be affected by the weather. They didn't have to toss out their game plan as junior Anthony Binetti threw for 223 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first half of a 65-14 nonconference romp over visiting Gary West.

"We knew we were going to throw the ball tonight and the weather didn't really matter," said Huntley senior wide receiver Brandon Altergott. "We caught the passes we needed to catch for touchdowns and we made plays."

Huntley improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2009 as Altergott took a quick slant from Binetti on the first play of the game and raced 82 yards into the end zone. Altergott also caught a 39-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and Joshua Esikiel (3 catches, 68 yards) had touchdown receptions of 17 and 34 yards en route to a 51-6 halftime lead.

Binetti, who completed 8 of 13 passes before coming out of the game late in the second quarter, said his work with quarterback guru Jeff Christensen helped him deal with the weather conditions.

"This was our game plan all along with them playing press man (coverage)," Binetti said. "We knew we'd be able to throw all night. That was our game plan and we had to stick to it.

"I've always worked on it with ball security and because of the weather I had to loosen my grip and really spin it."

Huntley also got first-half rushing touchdowns of 4 yards from Jacob Witt, 28 yards from freshman Eric Mooney (6 carries, 43 yards) and 39 yards from junior Casey Haayer (5 carries, 69 yards). Donnovan Young hit a 38-yard field goal 1:03 before halftime and seniors James Ambrose and Kyle Zender had touchdown runs during a second half played entirely with a running clock.

Gary West (0-4) got a 61-yard touchdown pass from Myliq Mosley to Durante Buggs in the second quarter and a 10-yard touchdown run by Kaylin Brookshire in the fourth.

"It would have been real easy as a staff to think you're better than somebody and not prepare the same way," said Huntley coach John Hart, whose team has scored 128 points in the last 2 weeks. "But we worked as hard this week as any other week to get prepared and it showed. They had some really good athletes and it showed on that screen (touchdown pass). The rest of the time our guys did a great job of staying in their lanes and limiting plays."