CL South rolls over McHenry

It’s definitely not a secret that Crystal Lake South’s football trademark is its defense. Heck, it’s the name of the game for the Gators, who have given up 19 points in 4 games.

But in their 45-6 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division win over McHenry at McCracken Field Friday night, the Gators showed something else: their offense. And showing their offensive fangs matters greatly because they’ll need them for next week’s key Fox Valley Conference Valley Division matchup against Class 6A’s No. 2 ranked Prairie Ridge.

The Gators (5-0, 3-0) rushed for 198 yards, passed for 164 (362 total offense) and saw running back Karl Mikulec (10 carries, 88 yards) rush for 3 touchdowns. Quarterback Austin Fowler also converted on a 66-yard touchdown pass to Denton Delgado.

“Finally our offense is starting to click,” Gators coach Chuck Ahsmann said, whose team scored on 6 of its first 8 drives, including 4 of its first 6. “We have a huge game coming up next week. Every game is huge but Prairie Ridge is always a big game so I think we’re starting to play better and that’s what you want.”

Zevin Clark (9 carries, 91 yards) began the Gators’ scoring party 1:30 into the game with a 15-yard run to cap a 4-play, 52-yard drive. Mikulec added his first score on the next Gators’ drive from 13 yards out to make it 14-0.

Mikulec had many holes all night. He rushed for a 26-yard and a 15-yard touchdown later on and thanked his offensive line of Jake Byron (left tackle), Pat Walsh (left guard), Ed Atkinson (center), Austin Gill (right guard) and Mike Franke (right tackle).

“We have two sophomores (Walsh and Franke) and they played an outstanding game,” Mikulec said. “They really cared about the team and put their heads down, fired down and that got me right through. I didn’t even get touched.”

McHenry (2-3,1-1) scored on 78-yard wide receiver reverse pass to make it 14-6 but of the 271 yards of total offense and 14 first downs for McHenry, South held the Warriors to just 67 yards and 2 first downs in the second half. Dalyn Buettner recovered a blocked punt in the end zone. McHenry quarterback Robert Tonyan was sacked 5 times, including 2 from Colton Nero. and intercepted by Brandon LaPak.