Crystal Lake Central downs Crystal Lake S.
Prior to Friday, only once in 16 previous meetings had a football game gone Crystal Lake Central's way in the Battle of CL against Crystal Lake South.
But when you count a Tiger victory in 2014 and the Tigers' 27-19 Fox Valley Conference win Friday at Owen Metcalf Field, it doesn't seem as if South has the edge in the rivalry that it used to.
And in the sudden bizzaro world the Gators are theoretically in as Central improved to 2-0 while South falls to 0-2, they can chalk up its second loss to CLC in the last 3 years with something its program doesn't do often: lack composure.
Besides the fact it allowed Vinny May to rush 26 times for 172 on 2 touchdowns and Jacob Staples to pass for 104 yards and rush for 2 touchdowns on 40 yards rushing, 2 costly 15-yard penalties and a muffed kickoff in the game's last 20 minutes spoiled any chance at a comeback for the Gators, who looked in control after grabbing their first lead with 8:31 left in the third quarter.
"They just killed us," Gators linebacker Tyler Beckwith, who had 2 sacks, spoke of the mental mistakes. "It just goes back to freshman year. We taught to all be disciplined and now junior and senior year everyone's undisciplined. We just have to go back to being disciplined."
South showed discipline at times running the football, as it Michael Swiatly rushed 16 times for 78 yards and 2 touchdowns. His second score came on a 9-play, 57-yard drive that ended with his 1-yard run for a 19-14 lead just 3:30 minutes into the third quarter.
After trailing 14-7 and 14-13 at the half it looked as if South (0-2, 0-2) had some major momentum. But a personal foul on the next drive - a second down loss - and another on a punt that setup Central (2-0, 2-0) on the Gator 35 with 53.1 left in the third quarter, was the writing on the wall for South.
Staples finished the drive by marching in from 4 yards out with 10:03 left for a 20-19 lead. On Central's next possession - a 10-play, 73-yard drive, May punched it in from 33-yards out down the left sideline to help grab a 27-19 lead with 3:06 left.
Five seconds later, South muffed a punt which was picked up by Central's Daniel Pierce near the sideline with 3:01.
"It's easy to stand on the sideline and say what he should've done," Gators coach Chuck Ahsmann said. "A ball in the air you got to go in the air and try to catch it. The ball's a funny shape and it takes funny bounces by the time it bounced he handled it but they were right on top of him. If he catches that it's a different story."
South did get another chance as Central's 32-yard field goal went wide with 2:35 left. But South went 3-and-out with 1:26 left and had 6 penalties for 65 yards to show for it.
"Way too many mistakes tonight," Ahsmann said. "Just stupid stuff killed us tonight. We need to be resilient (for next week), that's for sure.
Kyle Leva had a 64-yard touchdown run for South that tied the game at 7-7 in the first quarter. He finished with 88 yards rushing on 5 carries. South had 5 sacks.