Crystal Lake S. hammers Dundee-Crown
Crystal Lake South and Dundee-Crown played an evenly match first half Friday night in Carpentersville.
D-C led 26-21 at half time.
CLS's offense erupted in the third quarter, scoring 3 unanswered touchdowns to take the lead on its way to a 56-34 Fox Valley Conference victory - the Gators' first win of the season.
Kyle Leva, the Gator's main offensive weapon, scored all 3 of the third period TDs. The senior running back finished the night rushing 22 times for 288 yards and 5 touchdowns, He also crossing the goal line in the second and fourth quarters.
"That's the guy we knew we had to stop and obviously he ran right through us. When you are running untouched through the third level, it's not that hard to score," said D-C coach Mike Steinhaus. "The defense has to learn how to make stops and we need to be a little bit more physical."
"Kyle is a warrior. He'll do anything we ask," CLS coach Rob Fontana said. "Our offensive line did a great job of opening holes for him."
Defensive tweaks at half time helped contain D-C, according to Fontana.
"It was kind of a slugfest in the first half," said Fontana. We made a couple of adjustments on the defensive side, just changing up what we were doing, getting a little more speed out there."
The Chargers (1-4, 0-4) scored on their first possession, a 1-yard run by Ryan Lascano at the 5:36 mark of the first quarter. The Gators responded with their own TD, on a 5-yard Jacob Rana run. With 3.9 seconds left in the period, Ricky Ibarra scored on a 15-yard run to give D-C a 14-7 first quarter lead.
CLS (1-4, 1-4) tied the score 4 minutes into the second quarter on a 5-yard keeper by Ian Gorken. D-C retook the lead on Ibarra's second TD, a 6-yard run on the team's first second quarter drive. The Gators knotted the game again on their next possession. Leva scored his first TD of the night on a 53-yard run.
With 28.3 seconds left in the half, D-C's quarterback Joshua Raby found Jordan Hairston in the end-zone, to put the Chargers back in front at the half.
Leva scored on 19, 64 and 50 yard runs in the third quarter to give CLS a commanding 42-26 lead.
Ibarra score DC's only second half TD on a 1-yard plunge 4 minutes into the fourth quarter. The junior back provided most of the Chargers offensive, rushing for 262 yards on 34 carries.