CL Central 32, Streamwood 6

The momentum seemed to be shifting greatly toward Streamwood.

Trailing 13-0 midway through the second quarter, the Sabres had 2 golden opportunities to slice into Crystal Lake Central's lead.

On the first drive, Streamwood moved the ball to the Tiger 13 after a great 8-yard leaping catch by Derrick King on a fourth-and-7. The Sabres' drive stalled on downs at the 6.

Three plays later, King came up with a key defensive play with a fumble recovery at the Tiger 33. Streamwood moved the ball to the Central 18, but Noel Rivera's pass was intercepted by Zach Siegmeier in the end zone to thwart another Streamwood scoring chance.

All the wind was taken out of the Sabres' sails when Central linebacker Trevor Parlberg intercepted a Rivera pass at his own 40 and raced untouched 60 yards for a score.

The Sabres never recovered as the Tigers went to an easy 32-6 victory in the season opener for both teams at Central's Metcalfe Field Friday night.

"We make a couple of good plays and then we do something unbecoming of the team," said Streamwood coach Cal Cummins. "Right now, as a team we don't trust each other. We lack consistency. The interceptions just killed us."

Crystal Lake Central, which amassed 269 yards on the ground scored right before the half as Adam Smythe blasted to pay dirt from a yard out to give the Tigers a 25-0 lead at intermission

Central quarterback Connor Buxton, who completed 2-of-5 passes for 57 yards, tossed a perfect 30-yard strike Anthony Niemo for a score with 7:42 left in the third quarter to give the Tigers a 32-0 advantage.

Streamwood finally dented the scoreboard with 6:45 left as Nick Pryor scored from 2 yards out.

For Streamwood, Rivera completed 9-of-17 passes for 118 yards but threw 3 costly interceptions.

Smythe led the Tigers in rushing with 105 yards on 9 carries and scores of 1 and 20 yards.

"For a first game I thought we played very well," said Central coach Jon McLaughlin. "We had some first game mistakes, but we made some adjustments and boom and boom we got rolling again. It is nice to have a senior quarterback with Connor. The offense really runs smoothie with him. The effort and intensity was outstanding. We really lathered up and got after it."