advertisement

Ibarra, D-C prevail at Grayslake North

After falling behind host Grayslake North 13-0 late in the first quarter, things were not looking too good for Dundee-Crown on Friday night in its season-opening football game.

But behind a very strong running game led by senior Ricky Ibarra, the Chargers righted the ship and turned things around for an exciting 30-25 nonconference victory over the Knights in a very competitive contest from start to finish.

A dropped pass by Dundee-Crown deflected right into the hands of Grayslake North linebacker Zach Carter for an interception on the second play of the game as the Knights took over at the Chargers' 44-yard line.

Six plays later, Grayslake North's Christian Johnson spun away from a defender and went 23 yards for the touchdown before the extra point by Dimitri Cannon made the score 7-0 just 3:40 into the first quarter.

Then after the Chargers' next possession stalled at the Knights' 32 on downs, Grayslake North quickly marched 68 yards on four plays with Nick Lovitsch catching a 46-yard TD pass from Austin Martineau despite a D-C defender right on him. The missed extra point made the score 13-0 with 3:05 left in the quarter.

"I was just proud of our kids because we were down 13-0, and it was nice to see our kids know they were going to overcome that," said D-C coach Mike Steinhaus, whose team had 245 of its 314 total yards rushing. "We knew we were going to be able to run the ball, and Ricky Ibarra plays his heart out."

The Chargers marched 80 yards on 10 plays on their ensuing possession as a 29-yard pass from Josh Raby to Justin Prusko put the ball on the 3-yard-line. Ibarra (181 yards on 24 carries) easily scored on a 3-yard run, but the missed extra point kept the score at 13-6.

D-C hit pay dirt again on its next drive as a 27-yard run by Kareem Dunner (61 yards on 12 carries) took the ball to the Knights' 13. Two plays later, Dunner scored on a 6-yard TD run before Christian Alamillo's extra point deadlocked the score at 13-13.

Then with only 44-9 seconds left in the first half, Alamillo connected on a booming 48-yard field goal to give the Chargers a 16-13 halftime lead.

"Christian (Alamillo) kicked a 52-yarder this summer," added Steinhaus. "I'm so proud of our defensive staff getting them playing old D-C football where they will come up and hit you."

The Knights responded strongly in the third quarter when Martineau (18-for-27, 249 yards passing) hit Tony Hines II with a quick pass before Hines II raced 58 yards down the sideline for the touchdown and a brief 19-16 lead 1:47 into the second half.

But Ibarra scored on a 58-yard TD run basically untouched up the middle to give the Chargers the lead for keeps at 23-19 just 44 seconds later.

"We worked our tails off for this, and I couldn't do this without these guys blocking," said Ibarra. "The defense really stepped up, we played four quarters, and I'm really proud of these guys."

Raby lost a fumble at his own 25-yard-line as Jake Perez recovered the ball with 8:51 to play.

But it turned out to be a disastrous possession for the Knights ultimately ending when a bad snap way over Martineau's head gave the Chargers the ball at the North 8 for a total loss of 67 yards on the drive.

Ibarra's 1-yard TD run made the score 30-19 with exactly six minutes to play.

The Knights never folded as two 25-yard pass plays keyed an 80-yard drive with a 2-yard keeper by Martineau accounting for the final score with 2:55 to go.

"Coach Steinhaus coached them up very well, but we lost that game on inconsistencies," said Grayslake North coach Sam Baker, whose team had 376 total yards of offense. "We just didn't make plays, they were better up front than we were, and they just pounded it at us.

Jordan Curtis led the Knights with 66 yards rushing on seven carries.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.