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McHenry 18, Larkin 7

Last season when Larkin and McHenry opened the football season the teams combined to score 95 points.

On Friday night the two teams met at Memorial Field to kick off the 2008 campaign and combined for only 25.

While the Warriors again came out on top, this time an 18-7 victory, the Royals proved to be much more competitive.

"Larkin is very much an improved team," said McHenry coach Tim Beagle, whose team dominated the Royals last year 66-29. "All the kids played really hard for their new coach."

First-year Larkin coach Matt Gehrig brought in new offensive and defensive system. Both sides of the ball got off to good starts. The defense forced a fumble on the opening drive of the game, setting up the offense with the ball on the Warriors' 47-yard line.

The Royals ran the ball on all nine plays on the drive. Jalen Williams capped the drive by taking a pitch from quarterback Jeff Saurbaugh and scoring from 16 yards out as Larkin took a 7-0 lead with 4:17 remaining in the first quarter.

"The defense stepped up really big," said Larkin senior receiver and safety Justin Kalusa said "The offense was just not working today."

McHenry tied the game with 5:53 left in the first half on a 48-yard pass from Ryan Michel to Nico DeLorenzo.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Royals muffed the kickoff and the Warriors recovered on the Royals' 37. Larkin held tough and stopped McHenry on a 4th-and-12 and went into halftime tied at 7-7.

The Royals also mishandled the second-half kickoff and again McHenry recovered. Three plays later Jimmy Machometa scored from 9 yards out to give the Warriors a 14-7 lead.

After the Royals stopped the Warriors on a 4th-and-goal late in the third quarter, the Royals fumbled in the end zone. Larkin recovered, but the Warriors got a safety to increase their lead to 16-7 with 2:20 left in the third. Another Larkin fumble resulted in another safety 15 seconds into the fourth as McHenry took a 18-7 lead.

In all, Larkin fumbled 8 times, losing 4, and threw 2 interceptions. The Royals managed just 139 yards of offense, 55 coming on one run from Williams, who finished with 82 yards rushing on 9 carries.

"We weren't able to get rhythm in the passing game," Gehrig said. "We've got to work on some things with spacing and timing."

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