These last three games loom large for Huntley

The Huntley football players have already secured an invitation to the big party. The results of their final three regular-season games will determine what suits they'll wear to the festivities.

The undefeated Red Raiders have been the area's biggest surprise this season, sweeping their first six opponents by a combined score of 229-47 to clinch Huntley's first playoff berth since 2001 and third since the IHSA state series was implemented in 1974.

Whether Huntley dons home uniforms or away jerseys when the first round of the postseason opens on Halloween night depends on how the Red Raiders fare in their three remaining games against Crystal Lake Central (5-1), Prairie Ridge (4-2) and at Johnsburg (2-4).

Huntley will compete in the Class 6A playoffs. The better the Red Raiders' record, the less likely they are to draw a first-round road game against a Class 6A power like traditional area heavyweights Cary-Grove (6-0) or Crystal Lake South (5-1).

"The conclusion of the season is a long way from made because these next 3 games we may go 0-3, we may go 3-0. We have no idea," Huntley fourth-year coach Steve Graves said. "All three teams are good enough that it's going to take our best football and then some breaks to win any one of the three games. We understand that clearly, so do the kids. We haven't accomplished anything beyond a 6-win season at this point."

Jockeying for a better playoff seed. It's a new problem at Huntley but a good problem to have. It's the type of problem good football programs happily deal with every October.

It sure beats last season, when the Red Raiders' problem was finding the inner motivation to play out the string after they were eliminated from playoff contention in Week 7.

And it definitely beats 2006, when the players learned on "Selection Saturday" they had been de-selected for the postseason tournament based on playoff points after a 5-4 season.

There was hope within the Huntley program that the 2008 team could break through, could compete in the Fox Division of the Fox Valley Conference and could reach the playoffs. No one knew for sure. There was potential, though, in a senior class that had finished 5-4 as sophomores. "That's a pretty good bench mark that you're going to be somewhere," Graves said.

Seven starters returned on defense this year, and the offense returned four veteran linemen to make holes for talented running back Jordan Neukirch. It's a physical core of talent that has allowed Huntley to play an unstoppable brand of power offense and stiff defense through 6 games. The Red Raiders currently lead the 13 teams in the northern Fox Valley area in total offense (415.8 yards per game) and total defense (156 ypg).

Graves spoke before the season about having a balanced offense this year with more passing mixed in, but that was all "smoke" to throw opponents off the scent, he said this week. The offense doesn't throw unless forced to, and it hasn't been forced very often. Of the Red Raiders' 2,495 total yards, 2,091 have been gained via the run.

Neukirch, who considered transferring to Marian Central in the off-season, has excelled behind the blocking of junior Marcus Poppenfoose (6-2, 255) and seniors Jason Adams (6-3, 265), JJ McDougall (6-3, 245) and Brandon McDaniels (6-2, 245). The Illinois State-bound senior leads the area with 958 yards rushing, 13 touchdowns and an astonishing 10.9 yards per carry average. He is also Huntley's leading receiver with 13 catches for 165 yards and 1 touchdown.

But it's a tribute to the offensive linemen, not to mention Neukirch's value as a decoy, that other Huntley running backs are also finding room to roam. Junior Tanner Stearns is averaging 11 yards per carry (38-419), senior David Conrad 6.9 yards (44-303) and junior Brett Kleckner 4.7 yards (23-108).

"We kind of built our team around the offensive line," Graves said. "The surprise has been the contribution of the other running backs up until this point. We're getting a lot of people running to Jordan, so those guys are picking up a lot of yardage around misdirection off Jordan."

Defensively, the Red Raiders knew something had changed for the better after they defeated Wauconda 35-14 in the season opener by stuffing the run.

"They were lighting us up early," defensive lineman Devin McGovern said. "Then out of nowhere we just stopped them. That was a big difference from last year when they'd just keep running it on us until they scored. For some reason we'd all get down. This year we stand up and stop them."

With a playoff bid in hand after six weeks, this will go down as a breakthrough season for the Red Raiders no matter how things play out down the stretch. But no one in red and black is satisfied yet.

"It feels good, but we know we can't give up," McGovern said. "We know (Crystal Lake) Central will be a tough game, and we're preparing really, really hard to get through it. We'll take them one at a time and not think about the playoffs at all. We're thinking like we haven't clinched anything. We want more. We want to prove that we really are good. We still have a lot to prove before the playoffs."

When a team that hasn't won more than 5 games in a season in seven years opens the campaign 6-0, that team should rightfully get greedy and see how far it can push the envelope. That's where Huntley stands heading into its final three tests against teams with a combined 11-7 record, a sharp contrast to the combined record of its first six opponents (6-30).

With the competition about to get tougher, Huntley remains focused on the main mission.

"Our next step is to get as far away from 6 (wins) as we can because you'd like to have a home playoff game," Graves said. "If you'd like to win a playoff game, you have to get away from that 5- or 6-win mark, or you're going to end up with a doozy in Round 1. You have to get at least to the 7-win mark somehow."

A couple of more wins and the Red Raiders won't just be attending the postseason party, they might host it.