Cary-Grove tops Dundee-Crown for 5th win
Cary-Grove and senior quarterback Bobby Collins quickly established the ground rules in Friday night's Fox Valley Conference football game at Dundee-Crown.
Collins raced 51 yards into the end zone on the game's first play to spark the Trojans to 511 rushing yards and a 50-13 victory that made them playoff eligible for the 13th consecutive season.
"We came out firing on both sides of the ball," Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg said after Tyler Pennington followed Collins with 2 rushing touchdowns for a 22-0 lead just 9:02 into the game.
"No matter what, after a big win like Huntley (last week), we come out the next game and still work hard," Collins said after running for all 118 of his yards on 10 carries in the first half. "It's all about getting better each day and each game."
That attitude was on display right away for the Trojans (5-1, 5-1) as Collins took an option keeper through a huge hole on the left side on his first snap of a misty night. Collin Walsh, who nailed 6 more extra point kicks, used his legs for 2 points when he took a pitch from holder Quinn Priester on a fake.
"You couldn't draw it up any better," Seaburg said.
"It all worked out," Collins said. "The linemen did their job and it was a wide-open hole. I just knew (I was scoring)."
Pennington (8 carries, 79 yards) scored from 3 and 21 yards and Collins scored from 1 yard for a 29-7 halftime lead. Cary-Grove also got touchdown runs of 62 yards from Oscar Rivera, 1 yard from Kyle Pressley and 9 yards from James Johnson in the second half.
Priester ran for 90 yards on 7 carries as Cary-Grove starting linemen Colton Ruhland, Cadin Koeppel, Michael Eleftheriou, Nathaniel Hartke and Addison West paved the way for 536 total yards.
"We were able to do whatever we wanted and our linemen were doing so well," Collins said. "They opened up so many options for us.
"They've come a long way since Week 1 (26-14 loss to unbeaten Prairie Ridge). They've gotten better every day."
D-C (1-5, 0-5) responded to the rough start with a 12-play, 89-yard drive to get within 22-7 on a 4-yard touchdown run by sophomore Ricky Ibarra (16 carries, 119 yards). Senior rushing leader Greg Williams, who was held to 19 yards on 11 carries, raced 44 yards with a third-down screen pass from Conor Ryan (9-for-18, 122 yards) and Ryan found Sean Jay for 23 yards on fourth-and-12.
"Conor Ryan played his butt off tonight," said D-C coach Mike Steinhaus. "He did a great job and he's a great leader for us."
D-C got into Trojan territory on its next possession but Ryan was stopped short on fourth-and-inches at the 46. Ibarra had a 39-yard touchdown run with 8:54 to play.
"We have a good offense but it's about keeping consistent and being consistent with it," Steinhaus said. "We did some nice things in the passing game and I was happy to see that."