Waubonsie Valley 28, Larkin 0
Cam Kinley broke the Larkin single-season passing record Friday night.
But that was little consolation for the senior quarterback.
That's because the Royals' 28-0 loss to Waubonsie Valley at Memorial Field ended any hopes of Larkin making the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
"(The record) doesn't really mean much right now," Kinley said.
Kinley entered the game 149 yards shy of Matt Schabert's record set in 1999. His 14-yard completion to Jake Kane with less than 2 minutes remaining broke the record. Kinley finished with 174 yards on 21-of-30 passing to finish the season with 2,862 yards.
"It's a great accomplishment for Cam, but you have to understand (the receivers) were an important part of the offense," Royals coach Dave Bierman said.
Waubonsie Valley (7-2, 5-1 Upstate Eight) ran the football to control the clock and keep Kinley and the high-powered Royals offense off the field.
The Warriors, who clinched a share of the Upstate Eight title with the win, rushed for 312 yards. Rich Tronolone led the way with 158 yards and 2 touchdowns on 20 carries. Kenny Harrington added 131 yards and a score on 27 carries.
Warriors junior quarterback Tyler Castro, who coach Paul Murphy said was suffering from the flu, dove in from 1 yard out with 6:10 remaining in the first quarter as Waubonsie took a 7-0 lead.
Harrington added to the lead with a 5-yard touchdown run with 10:23 left in the first half to cap an 11-play, 60-yard drive.
"We were just going to handoff and beat them with running. Throw a few passes to keep them honest," Murphy said. "Tyler was a gamer. He sick as a dog and just fought through it."
Waubonsie chewed up more than nine minutes with a 17-yard scoring drive that started with more than 2 minutes left in the third quarter and ended with a Tronolone 8-yard score with 5:06 remaining in the game. The drive began at their own 6-yard line.
Tronolone added a 1-yard run with 2:29 left.
"They were just eating up the clock on offense," Kinley said. "They kept running and running. It was frustrating standing on the sideline the whole time."
The final drive of the game featured 5 penalties on Waubonsie that allowed the Royals to nearly get in the end zone, but the Warriors stopped Ryan Shriver on the 1-yard line to keep the shutout. Waubonsie lost starting linebacker Kevin Garbis for next week's playoff opener after he was ejected for two unsportsmanlike penalties on the final drive.