Crystal Lake South rolls over Dundee-Crown
Rarely are games won in the first quarter.
This one was.
Scoring on its first 4 possessions of the game, Crystal Lake South racked up 28 unanswered first-quarter points in cruising to a 41-6 win over Dundee-Crown in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division action in Crystal Lake Friday night.
"This team is hard to read sometimes," said South coach Chuck Ahsmann, whose team became playoff eligible with the win. "We were ready to play and came out and scored quick. We mixed the pass and run well and our defense came up with some huge plays."
Of the Gators 4 first quarter scores, 2 were rushing and 2 via the airwaves.
South's first TD came on a 16-yard run by Scott Coughlin with 6:08 left in the first quarter.
On the Gators' next possession, quarterback Luke Nolan, who completed his first 7 passes, lofted a 77-yard TD pass to sophomore Kyle Leva. The Gators (5-1, 2-0) led 14-0 with 3:51 left in the first quarter.
Crystal Lake South ended the first quarter with 2 more scores, a 1-yard run by Leva and a 19-yard TD pass from Nolan to Drew Murtaugh.
Leva, who ran for scores of 2 and 9 yards in the second half, ended with 16 carries for 60 yards and 3 scores. The sophomore back also caught 2 passes for 81 yards and a TD.
"Our offensive line was awesome tonight," said Leva, "I have really been accepted by the upperclassmen and have fit in well."
Nolan completed 13-of-17 passes for 210 yards and 2 TD passes. Matt Meyers snared 4 passes for 31 yards, Murtaugh caught 3 for 34 yards with a TD and Frank Woods grabbed 3 passes for 46 yards.
'We were able to get good yardage on the quick passes," said Nolan. "Our guys do a great job of running with the ball after the catch. "
The opportunistic Gator defense recovered 3 fumbles, 1 each by Trey McGinn, Tyler Beckwith and Ty Staples.
Dundee-Crown (1-5, 0-2) lost its starting quarterback Conor Ryan in the second quarter with a possible concussion.
The Chargers' only score came with 3:21 left in the third quarter on a 10-yard pass from Patrick Sprouse to Dondell Blalark.
'For the second straight week we started slow," said D-C coach Mike Steinhaus. "As a coaching staff we are going to look at it and try to change that pattern."