Defense carries Libertyville past young Elk Grove
It took awhile for Libertyville's offense to kick into gear Friday night at Elk Grove.
The Wildcats' defense, however, was as staunch as it's ever been.
The Libertyville 'D' pitched a shutout, while the 'O' put 16 points on the board in the third quarter to break open a close game in a 29-0 road win.
Running back Jason Tse led the Wildcats with 97 yards on 11 carries, while his defensive teammates forced 4 Elk Grove fumbles and recorded 4 sacks.
Libertyville held the home team to 36 yards of total offense.
"We were focused on pursuing to the ball tonight and getting a good push off the line," said Libertyville's 6-foot-2, 280-pound defensive lineman Skyler Blacker.
"We were a little sluggish," added Blacker, who led the Wildcats' sack parade. "It took us a little bit of time to get in the groove."
The Grenadiers actually played a very good game on defense as well, but too often found themselves playing deep in their own territory due to offensive turnovers.
"I was really proud of the way the guys played " said Elk Grove coach John Sigmund. "We're taking a lot of positives out of this game."
The Grens opened the contest with chances to score the first two times they had the ball.
First Connor Cloherty ripped off a 25-yard run minutes into the game to bring the ball down to the Wildcats 30-yard line, but the Grens fumbled the ball away.
On their next possession Elk Grove drove all the way to the Wildcats' 4 but turned the ball over on downs.
"Our offense kept putting our defense in some tough situations tonight," said Sigmund.
The Wildcats took a 6-0 halftime lead on the strength of two Matt Rudolphi field goals, then quarterback Jack Ruskell added to the lead early in the third quarter with a 1-yard touchdown plunge.
Libertyville made it 15-0 minutes later on a safety when a Elk Grove punt snap sailed over the punter's head and into the Grens' end zone, and extended the lead late in the quarter when Ruskell threw 34 yards to Brandon Rule for a TD.
The Wildcats closed out the scoring in the final quarter on another Rule touchdown catch from Ruskell, this one from 21 yards out.
Ruskell was 11-of-21 through the air for 112 yards, while Max Moulton pitched in to the Libertyville ground attack with 34 yards on 7 carries.
"We're going to get better as time goes on," said Libertyville coach Mike Jones. "We were a little off on our timing, but it was nice to get out there and play another team after practicing against each other all this time."
After the game, Grens coach Sigmund singled out three sophomores - Vinny Paciano, Matt Crimmins and Dylan Elsner - for some well-earned praise.
Elk Grove isn't fielding a sophomore team due to numbers, but the trio stepped in and stepped up in their first varsity contest.
"It was their time to shine," said Sigmund. "They did a great job."