Dundee-Crown finds a way to get the job done
How appropriate that on this, the final regular season weekend for Major League Baseball, Dundee -Crown resurrected the 1980s-era Chicago White Sox slogan of "Winning Ugly."
Trailing Crystal Lake South 20-10 entering the fourth quarter, the Chargers pieced together a touchdown, a safety and a 20-yard field goal with 4:18 left to play, then watched as their defense - a unit that has been battered and bruised in recent weeks - shut the Gators down to seal a 22-20 victory in Carpentersville.
The homecoming win improved Dundee-Crown to 3-3 overall and 2-3 in the Fox Valley Conference, while the Gators slipped to 3-4, 3-2 in the conference.
The Chargers might have a difficult time tripping the light fantastic at homecoming, according to head coach Mike Steinhaus.
"We've got no toes left," he told the team, referring to how many times they'd shot themselves in the foot in the game. "But how 'bout that defense?"
Was this the same defense that had given up 166 points over the previous three weeks? Indeed it was.
"The defense is the heart of the team," Steinhaus explained, "and they've been hurting the last few weeks. But it's important to believe, and they do. We don't fear any team."
If trends matter at all, there was the potential for this game to be seriously one-sided. While the Dundee-Crown defense had gone down for the third time, the Gators' offense had been moving like a tremendous machine, scoring better than 40 points in each of their last three games.
That did not bode well for the Chargers.
Neither team scored in the opening quarter, but not for lack of opportunity. Dundee-Crown took the opening possession all the way to the Gators' 11 before stalling, and a 27-yard field goal attempt went awry when the snap was mishandled.
Crystal Lake South scored the first time it touched the ball on a 75-yard explosion up the middle, but a holding call brought it back. That series ended with a punt, and on their second possession the Gators fumbled the ball away on the fourth snap of the second quarter.
Dundee-Crown took advantage of the turnover when Raby lateraled to Alex Lopez, who galloped 70 yards to put the hosts on top 7-0. The Gators tied it on the ensuing possession when 6-0, 190-pound senior Zach Borgert, who pummeled the middle of the Dundee-Crown defense all night long, took it in from 22 yards out. On the night Borgert gained 170 yards on 30 carries.
Following a Chargers punt, Borgert scored again, this time from the 7-yard line, but Jacob Kocemba's kick slipped wide right and Crystal Lake South owned a 13-7 lead. But Alamillo made good on a 26-yard field goal as the clock expired to trim the deficit to 13-10 at halftime.
On their first possession of the second half, Gators quarterback Ian Gorken (6 for 14, 112 yards, 1 touchdown) turned a broken play into magic, finding a roaming Michael Helm (4 catches for 87 yards) for a 46-yard touchdown strike to extend the lead to 20-10.
That's when things got ugly - or beautiful, for the Dundee-Crown faithful. Ryan Loscano capped a six-play, 90-yard drive with his first carry of the night, a 4-yard plunge that pulled the Chargers within 20-17. The key play of the drive was a 74-yard run by Ricky Ibarra (174 yards on 24 carries) that set up Loscano's touchdown.
The Dundee-Crown defense held the Gators to three-and-out on the ensuing possession, and the snap to punter Gavin Giejda sailed over his head and into the end zone where the Chargers covered it, and suddenly they found themselves within one at 20-19.
Then came the Chargers' best march of the night, a 10-play surge that included a 30-yard screen pass to Ibarra that helped set up Alamillo's game-winner.