Prairie Ridge holds off Huntley in wild one
It was a 2 minute and 43 second span Huntley would like to forget.
Prairie Ridge, the defending Class 6A champion, scored 21 unanswered points and broke a 21-21 lead en route to a 51-43 victory in Fox Valley Conference action in Huntley Friday night.
It was the Wolves' (2-0, 2-0) 16th straight win.
PR standout quarterback Samson Evans, who scored 5 touchdowns, scored on TD runs of 68 and 11 yards while Jackson Willis scored on a 4-yard run as PR turned a tie into a 42-21 lead with 7:09 left in the third quarter.
PR defensive backs Sam Concialdi and Drew Norton picked off passes from Huntley quarterback Eric Mooney to set up 2 of the 3 scores.
"We finally got a little breathing room and our defense gave up good field position," said PR coach Chris Schremp. "Huntley is a very talented team with skill people on offense and a very physical defense."
The Red Raiders (1-1, 1-1) attempted to come back without head coach Matt Zimzolak. Zimzolak was assessed two 15-yard penalties for misconduct and ejected from the game with 9:30 left in the third quarter. He will not be able to coach next week against Dundee-Crown by IHSA rule.
The Red Raiders couldn't contain Evans, who ran for 242 yards on 29 carries. Evans also tossed a 64-yard TD pass to Zach Gulbransen.
Despite the 2 interceptions, Mooney attempted to rally the Raiders for a second straight week. Mooney threw a 1-yard TD pass to Ryan Antonsen with 1:23 left in the game. The Huntley senior quarterback tossed a 2-point conversion pass to Brian O'Mara to cut the PR deficit to 8.
Huntley's onside kick attempt was recovered by the Wolves' Joe Perhats and PR held on for the win.
Mooney was 14-for-23 for 217 yards and 4 touchdowns. He threw 2 to Antonsen who snared 9 passes for 116 yards. O'Mara caught a TD pass of 12 yards and Mike Boland grabbed a TD pass of 15 yards.
Mooney also scrambled for 81 yards on 10 carries and scored on a TD run of 14 yards.
"This is the last game we lose all season," said Mooney. "This is it. We had 3 turnovers and 2 are on me. PR is a very good team but this is a game we should have won."