Cary-Grove rolls over Niles North
Rarely are games won in the first quarter.
This one was.
Scoring on all 5 possessions of the quarter in scoring 31 unanswered points, Cary-Grove's fast start was enough to propel the top-seeded Trojans to an easy 52-14 win over 16th-seeded Niles North in first round Class 7A playoff action at Cary's Al Bohrer Field Saturday afternoon.
Cary-Grove (10-0) will play the winner of the Rolling Meadows-St. Charles North game next weekend in second round action. Niles North ends the season at 5-5.
"We wanted to get off to a fast start and we did," said Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg, "We had great focus and were strong on both sides of the ball and on special teams. It was a good way to start the playoffs."
In the first quarter, the Trojans had 2 rushing touchdowns on runs of 2 yards by Matt Sutherland and 1 yard from Tyler Pennington.
Cary-Grove mixed in the passing game during the initial 12 minutes as senior quarterback Jason Gregoire tossed a 20-yard TD pass to Sutherland and a 30-yard scoring pass to Jim Freskos.
"We wanted to get off to a good start," said Gregoire, who played a little over a quarter. "We wanted to establish the passing game early. We didn't wanted to give them any confidence at all."
Gregoire, who ran 5 times for 43 yards, was a perfect 3-for-3 passing for 73 yards.
Sophomore Collin Walsh booted a 33-yard field goal as the Trojans dominated the first quarter and led 31-0 after 12 minutes.
The Trojans didn't let up and scored twice in the second quarter as Kevin Hughes ran in from 26 yards out and Willie Hartke, behind great blocking, went unscathed for a 48-yard punt return touchdown as the Trojans led 45-0 at halftime.
The Cary-Grove defense, which allowed only 1 first down to the visiting Vikings in the first half, picked off two passes, one each by Larkin Hanselmann and George Hartke.
With 10 players running the ball, the Trojans toted the pigskin 48 times for 294 yards. Reserve sophomore running back Kyle Pressley ran the ball 11 times for 75 yards including a 3-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
Niles North scored touchdowns in the fourth quarter on a 4-yard TD run by Barrington Wade and a 10-yard pass from Markhus Taylor to Craig Dawkins.