Classic comeback lifts Huntley over PR
Huntley clinched a share of its first Fox Valley Conference title by engineering one of the greatest comebacks in league history Friday night.
The Red Raiders fell behind 28-7 seconds into the third quarter after Prairie Ridge junior Justin Henderson returned the second-half kickoff for what looked to be a back breaker.
But Huntley scored 3 unanswered touchdowns to tie the game with 7 seconds left, then prevailed 31-28 in overtime on a 17-yard Tor Larkin field goal.
The win gave Huntley (8-0, 4-0) a share of the Fox Division title, its first FVC football championship since joining the conference in 2003.
"It feels great," said senior running back Jordan Neukirch. "It's just indescribable right now, especially the way things went in the first half. We just knew we had to come out and start making some plays, buckle down and not make any mistakes."
Touchdown runs of 80 and 3 yards by junior Brett Kleckner cut the deficit to 28-21 with 3:58 left in the third quarter and that's how the score remained until Huntley took over on downs at its own 32-yard line with 1:11 left in the game after PR quarterback Bryan Bradshaw slipped while trying to make a cut on fourth-and-3.
"In a conference championship game you have to make plays," Bradshaw said. "We had opportunities to close it out and we couldn't close the door."
The Raiders moved down the field in 8 plays, keyed by a double pass from quarterback Brandon Luczak to Neukirch, who in turn fired downfield to Larkin for a 31-yard pass play to the Prairie Ridge 8-yard line. Then the Red Raiders caught a break.
Luczak threw a pass to the goal line on second-and-goal from the 8, intended for Neukirch. A Prairie Ridge defender cut in front, got both hands on the ball and nearly intercepted, but the ball slipped through his hands and into the arms of a waiting Neukirch for the touchdown. Larkin tied the game with his fourth extra point.
"He tipped the ball, and I just tried to concentrate on the ball and get it in my hands," said Neukirch, who was held to 73 yards on 18 carries. "It was pretty lucky. I just tried to hang with it."
"What a couple of plays by Jordan, both throwing the ball and catching the ball down there," Huntley coach Steve Graves said. "They had him well defended all night. They knew we were going to him. I'd kick myself if he didn't have something to do with the end of it."
Prairie Ridge got the ball first in overtime, but on the Wolves' first play Bradshaw pitched behind his running back, resulting in a fumble that was recovered by Huntley linebacker Kevin Doran.
The Red Raiders took over and ran the ball three times to the 1-yard line before Larkin kicked a line drive through the uprights to set off the celebration.
"We faced a lot of adversity tonight," said Kleckner, who injured an ankle but returned to lead Huntley with 121 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. "We didn't think we'd come back, but we pulled together somehow."
Prairie Ridge (5-3, 3-1) took a 14-0 lead on a 14-yard run by Todd Budy and a 1-yard run by Kevin Keener before Huntley answered with a 10-play drive, capped by a Kleckner 1-yard plunge.
The Wolves took a 21-7 lead when Bradshaw threw a 61-yard bomb to Toby MacDonald with 2:39 left in the second quarter. But Prairie Ridge's second half possessions resulted in 2 punts a missed field goal and a turnover on downs deep in Huntley territory.
"We made too many mistakes in big situations and we didn't put the ball in the end zone," Prairie Ridge coach Chris Schremp said. "There were a lot of points in the game where we could have put them away and we didn't. We let them hang around long enough to make some plays."