Woodstock North pulls away from Round Lake

A great start in Round Lake's home opener had football coach Cristo Garza feeling positive.

But Woodstock North ended up leaving a lasting impression with its efforts, combined with some key injuries for the Panthers.

Round Lake saw Woodstock North run away with a 48-7 victory in a nonconference game in Round Lake on Friday night.

Thunder running back Casey Dycus rushed for 210 yards, scored 4 touchdowns and also recovered a fumble.

Darrius Calhoun (5 catches, 53 yards) started the game off on the opening drive by catching a 22-yard pass from Alex Larson that put the Panthers ahead 7-0 with 10:50 left in the opening quarter.

It was all Woodstock North (2-0) the rest of the way.

Round Lake (0-2) stumbled with on three straight drives in the first half and also lost starting quarterback Tabieas Young to a shoulder injury in the middle of the second quarter. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital at halftime to get checked out.

"I'm standing in a place where I don't want to be anywhere else," Garza said. "I told (our players) at the end, we're sticking together and we've got guys banged up. The way everybody fought, there's no doubt in my mind, if we're in a dark alley and those are my guys. I love each one of them and they played their butts off. We had our chances in the red zone, three times early on, we had two turnovers and a few penalties. What can you do? And injuries are a part of the game.

"We came into the week injured, and we end the week injured. That's the game of football. When (Tabieas) left all I know that it's a shoulder injury and that's what the trainer said. I know they rushed him off to the hospital to see what's going on. We do have other guys that can step up. Alex Larson went in and was able to finish the game."

The Thunder responded with Dycus scoring four times - from 1, 4, 5, and 6 yards out.

Colin Margi also rushed for the 3 other touchdowns for Woodstock North, from 1, 5 and 33 yards.

"Our team came out and I'm not sure if they underestimated (Round Lake) a little bit," Woodstock North coach Jeff Schroeder said. "(Round Lake) punched us in the face right off the bat. A much improved team over last year. Our kids realized, they had to come and play football. That's a testament to coach Garza."