Huntley takes down Minooka
Everything worked for host Huntley in a 49-7 victory over Minooka in Saturday's Class 8A first-round playoff game.
A swarming Huntley defense led by lineman Tyler Larson and linebackers Daniel Dennis and Tim McCloyn held the Indians to negative-22 yards rushing, the physical offensive line imposed its will throughout and running backs Eric Mooney and Casey Haayer kept their legs pumping in a decisive win for the No. 2 seed over No. 31 on a cold, wet, windy afternoon.
No. 2 Huntley (10-0) outgained No. 31 Minooka (5-5) 403 yards to 130 to win a playoff game for the first time under fourth-year coach John Hart (1-3).
The playoff win was Huntley's first since 2008, when coach Steve Graves' Red Raiders defeated Batavia 70-63.
"It feels great," Mooney said of advancing to the second round. "We haven't done it in a long time. It's been a while since Huntley has been this caliber of a team and we're looking forward to it."
Mooney is a big reason Huntley will host No. 15 Oswego (8-2) in the second round next Saturday. The sophomore rushed 12 times for a game-high 134 yards and 2 touchdowns, all in the first half, and he made 4 catches for a game-best 111 yards.
Opinions differed as to why Huntley's running game was able to collect 291 rushing yards. Hart credited his offensive line of senior right tackle Zach Vretenar, junior right guard Andrew Pertzborn, sophomore center Cody Gaynor, senior left guard Kyle Witt and senior left tackle Dominic Swanson.
"It was the best our offensive line has played in any sector at any time since I've been here," Hart said. "I'm really, really proud of them. You've got to have chemistry when you have a great offensive line and they talked. When (Minooka) made adjustments, we made adjustments. Mostly, it was just really, really physical."
Minooka coach Paul Forsythe instead lauded the play-extending abilities of Mooney and Haayer, the latter of whom rushed 21 times for 92 yards and 3 touchdowns.
"They got a ton of second-effort yards," Forsythe said, "and that's nothing anyone can prepare for. You can't game plan for second effort and that obviously wore us down a little bit."
Huntley's opening drive ended at the Minooka 13-yard line when quarterback Anthony Binetti fumbled a wet ball in shotgun formation. However, the Red Raiders scored on 4 of their 5 remaining first-half possessions. Haayer scored on a 9-yard run and junior Daniel Frederick caught a 17-yard scoring strike from Binetti to make it 14-0 after a quarter.
Minooka quarterback John Carnagio capped a 12-play, 76-yard drive with a quarterback sneak to trim the deficit to 14-7 with 11:07 left in the second, but the Red Raiders responded 2 plays later with Mooney's 78-yard burst off right tackle for a touchdown.
"The hole just opened right out in front of me and, really, they didn't have a deep guy," Mooney said. "As soon as I got past the second level, the linebackers, there was no one unless someone caught me."
Mooney added a 12-yard, second-effort touchdown with 1:37 left in the first half to finish a 13-play, 69-yard that staked Huntley to a 28-7 halftime lead. Haayer kept that march alive with a 3-yard run on fourth-and-2 near midfield.
It was more of the same in the second half as the Red Raiders scored 3 third-quarter touchdowns to force a running clock. Senior Ben Pfeifer scored on a 10-yard reception and Haayer capped the scoring with runs of 4 and 15 yards.
Meanwhile, the Huntley defense smothered the Indians. Minooka's only effective weapon was junior wide receiver Isaiah Hill, whose 5 receptions were responsible for 78 of his team's 130 total yards.
"We knew (Carnagio) was a pretty good quarterback and we knew they had a couple of great players on their offense," Larson said. "We just had to shut them down. Our (defensive backs) stepped up. We were getting plenty of pressure."