Here they go again - C-G, CLS ready to get after it
It has become a pairings night habit.
As soon as the IHSA releases the playoff brackets on the final Saturday night of the regular season, high school football fans in McHenry County scan the brackets to see when Crystal Lake South will play Cary-Grove.
It really has become a matter of when, not if.
When the District 155 schools, separated by six miles, face each other Saturday at 1 p.m. at Crystal Lake South's Ken Bruhn Field in a Class 7A quarterfinal, it will mark the fourth time in five years these Fox Valley Conference rivals have met in the postseason, the third time in a state quarterfinal.
"Inevitably, we're going to face each other if we keep winning," Cary-Grove coach Bruce Kay said. "That's just the way it's going to go."
The teams were placed in the same bracket of Class 7A last year and would have faced each other in a quarterfinal had both advanced, but the Gators lost to Carmel in their playoff opener and Cary-Grove lost to DeLaSalle in Round 2.
When they have met in recent years, things have mostly gone the Trojans' way. In eight meetings since 2004, Cary-Grove has gone 6-1 against the Gators, including a quarterfinal victory in 2004 (34-0) and a second-round triumph in 2006 (28-0).
CL South's lone victory during that span was a big one, though. In 2005, the Gators knocked off the Trojans 20-14 in a Class 6A quarterfinal at Cary-Grove before losing in the semifinals to eventual state champion, Morris.
Since 2004, Cary-Grove is 11-4 in the playoffs; Crystal Lake South is 8-4.
Though the Gators haven't fared particularly well against the Trojans of late (they've lost the last three meetings by a combined score of 105-7) they hardly shied away from the prospect of a rematch of the 24-7 loss suffered in Cary in Week 7 of the regular season.
Moments after the Gators beat Boylan 28-0 in Rockford on Saturday afternoon, junior linebacker JD Barchard detailed the his team's underlying motivation: "We really wanted to take it to this team so that we could have a chance at Cary-Grove next week, our cross-town rival," Barchard said.
Sure enough, the Trojans did their part to set up the Valley Division rematch by beating St. Charles East 10-7 later that night.
This game could turn out to be the best in the series. Both teams are as healthy as they've been all season and each is brimming with confidence on the heels of big wins.
The defense of Cary-Grove (11-0) is playing at its peak. The swarming Trojans held Upstate Eight Conference offensive MVP, running back Wes Allen of St. Charles East, to 87 yards last week. It was the only time Allen was been held below 100 yards this season.
Crystal Lake South (9-2) played its most complete game of the season last week against Boylan, using smothering defense and a clutch performance by sophomore quarterback Drew Ormseth to reach the quarters for the third time in five years. It was the Gators' fourth shutout of the season, a school record.
CL South coach Jim Stuglis figured he'd have to play the role of zookeeper on the bus ride back to Crystal Lake Saturday afternoon, forced to calm 67 unbridled teenagers reveling in their big victory. But that wasn't the case.
"They were excited on the field and I thought they were going to be rowdy on the bus, but they were all calmed down, all talking about the next game already," Stuglis said. "It was kind of different than what I thought it was going to be. The kids are focused. Hopefully, they can channel that into something positive Saturday afternoon."
A key component of CL South's victory over Boylan was the defense's ability to limit big plays. The Titan's biggest gain was 18 yards. The Gators will need a repeat performance if they expect to beat the Trojans, who used 3 big plays to turn the tide against CL South in their Oct. 10 victory.
In that game Cary-Grove fullback Eric Chandler broke free for a 69-yard touchdown run on the fourth play from scrimmage, kick returner Jake Underwood returned a ball 55 yards to set up another Chandler touchdown and junior Alex Hembrey raced 55 yards to set up a Marcus Kerrigan field goal.
But that's how Cary-Grove and its triple-option offense gets you. Like a patient boxer the Trojans jab, jab, jab, then just when a defense gets used to the rhythm and thinks it has things under control - boom! They deliver a roundhouse right that changes the complexion of the game.
But the Gators are a different team now, says Cary-Grove's coach.
"They've gotten faster and they're executing better from what it looks like on film," Kay said. "They're a better football team than the one we faced before."
Stuglis, not surprisingly, said the same of Cary-Grove. But neither leader is simply defaulting to "coachspeak." They're both right. Cary-Grove and Crystal Lake South are both better football teams today than they were on Oct. 10.
The debate as to which team has improved the most will be settled on the field Saturday in front of a crowd as large as 5,000 people, depending on the weather, according to Stuglis.
The two best programs in the Fox Valley Conference, both healthy, both surging, slugging it out for a spot in the state semis for the third time in five years.
Some habits shouldn't be broken.
jfitzpatrick@dailyherald.com