Cary-Grove handles Rams
Grayslake Central football coach Nick Goshe tried to stay positive after visiting Cary-Grove trounced the Rams 42-7 in a Fox Valley Conference cross over on Friday night."
"After a game like this, you just move on,"Goshe said. "Cary-Grove is a very good football team. (Cary-Grove coach Bruce Kay) does a great job with those kids. They are a better football team. Their program is better than us from top to bottom, including numbers and coaches. All you can do is use this game as a measuring stick for where you are at and keep getting better."
The Trojans' offensive line allowed their triple option offense to rush for 362 yards. Cary-Grove's defense, meanwhile, held Grayslake Central to only 24 yards.
Alex Hembrey started the Trojan scoring barrage with 2 touchdowns in the first eight minutes of the first quarter. His first one came on a 9-yard sweep with 7:30 left, and three minutes later he scored on a 45-yard pitch along the left sideline.
The Trojans scored one more touchdown to take a 21-0 first quarter lead and then scored 14 more to take a 35-0 halftime lead.
Hembrey started the second half with a 47-yard kickoff return. Three plays later, Jonas Mack took a pitch from Cary-Grove quarterback Tyler Krebs from 2 yards out to build a 42-0 lead.
"Today our kids came out and we played fast and we played very good fundamental football," Kay said. "I felt that a number of our kids contributed from both our first and second string players. Our line play was excellent all game."
Goshe did tip his hat to Rams starting quarterback Kevin O'Rourke, who completed 9 of 19 passes for 98 yards despite constantly being under attack by Cary-Grove's defensive line.
"Kevin is a great athlete for us and he can make plays," Goshe said. "He is a three-sport-athlete. You can tell that he was competitive throughout the entire game. He made a nice play for us at the end and was able to get us some points."
Grayslake Central's home crowd gave its team a standing ovation as O'Rourke threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to David Tajani (3-52) and Tad Vela kicked the PAT with 8:20 left in the fourth quarter.