Baker, Cary-Grove roll over McHenry
It seemed whatever defensive scheme McHenry devised to stop Cary-Grove senior quarterback Quinn Baker just plain didn’t work.
The Trojans’ senior signal caller was simply unstoppable.
Baker’s scampered 129 yards on 20 carries and scored 5 rushing touchdowns to lead the Trojans to an easy 42-3 win over McHenry in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division play in McHenry Friday night.
“The offensive line was outstanding tonight,” said Baker. “They opened huge holes all night. We basically took what McHenry’s defense gave us.”
Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg praised Baker’s efforts.
“Most of the yardage Quinn got was on reads,” said the Cary-Grove coach. “We give him the freedom to call audibles and he did a great job of changing the play if needed. He had an outstanding game. Quinn always does a good job of taking what the defense gives him.”
While Baker was running around the Warriors (2-4, 1-3), Cary-Grove (6-0, 3-0) fullback Kyle Norberg ran through the McHenry defense. The bruising senior punished the Warriors for 119 yards on 15 carries which included a 2-yard TD run.
“Kyle runs so hard and he is hard to bring down,” said Seaburg. “He had another great game.”
Led by Baker and Norberg, the Trojans rushed for 383 yards and compiled 31 first downs.
Amazingly, McHenry scored first on a 25-yard field goal by Marco Tello with 6:59 left in the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead. The Trojans dominated the rest of the game, scoring the final 42 points.
Baker’s 3-yard run with 3:41 left in the first quarter gave the Trojans the lead for good at 7-3. That was the score after 12 minutes.
Cary-Grove seized control of the game with 21 unanswered points in the second quarter on 3 scores by Baker of 1, 5 and 2 yards. The Trojans led 28-3 at intermission.
The stingy, aggressive Cary-Grove defense held the McHenry offense to 140 yards (80 rushing, 60 passing). The Trojans intercepted 2 passes, 1 each by Kasey Fields and Patrick O’ Malley. Cary-Grove sacked McHenry quarterback Kyle Snedeker 6 times. O’ Malley and Mickey Duncan collected 2 sacks apiece.
“We started a little flat,” said Cary-Grove defensive coordinator Don Sutherland. “But overall we played a great game after that first drive. We put pressure on their quarterback and our coverage was excellent. They have a nice screen pass package and we contained that well.”