Trojans deny St. Charles N.
Cary-Grove ran the ball all over St. Charles North and then and ran out the clock on the North Stars comeback attempt as the Trojans prevailed in the season opener for both schools on Friday night, 24-21.
The Trojans had more than 50 rushing attempts and collected 287 yards on the ground with junior Alex Hembrey leading the way with 152 yards and a touchdown.
"The offensive line made it look easy for us," Hembrey said. "Like coach always says, the running back always look the same without offensive line blocks and they blocked and made us look good."
Cary-Grove (1-0) jumped ahead to a 7-0 lead by capitalizing on a North Stars' fumble on the game's opening drive. On a fourth down on the 6-yard line, quarterback Tyler Krebs connected with tight end John Bryan. It would prove to be the only completion of the evening for the Trojans and all they'd need.
The Trojans extended their lead to 17-0 heading into intermission on a career-best 51-yard field goal by kicker Marcus Kerrigan and a 2-yard run by Eric Chandler. Kerrigan's booming kick concluded a lengthy 16-play drive.
Said Cary-Grove coach Bruce Kay, "I have a lot of confidence in him."
Cary-Grove finally succumbed to a mistake of its own on the fourth play of the second half after Krebs left with an injury. Ryan Barker replaced him and fumbled his first snap which was gathered up by Mitch Nemec who scampered 41 yards for the touchdown.
"The fumble recovery helped us get some momentum going," North Stars coach Mark Gould said. "In the first half they (Cary-Grove) were much more physical and we challenged the kids at halftime to have a better half and it just was not enough."
A 47-yard run by Hembrey extended the Trojans lead to 24-7 with 9:39 remaining in the third quarter but the North Stars still had life left in them. A 12-play drive culminated in a 6-yard touchdown run by Jon DeMoss with 4:53 left in the quarter DeMoss continued the rally into the fourth quarter when he hauled in a 12-yard touchdown pass from Nick Neari (11-of-22 passing, 113 yards) with 4:37 remaining.
"I don't think we helped the defense so much in the second half," Kay said. "In the firs half we moved the ball quite a bit but when you keep giving the ball back to them. They've got a nice team and they started hitting some passes and we made some mistakes."
Rob Mago put out any hopes the North Stars had for a come-from-behind victory when he intercepted a Neari pass with 1:42 left. Afterward the Trojans were able to take a knee on three straight snaps and run out the clock.