Gators ground Cary-Grove
Cary-Grove's vaunted and potent option attack could never get on track.
Crystal Lake South made sure of that.
The No. 6-seeded Gators, who held No. 2 Cary-Grove to 1 yard and 1 first down in the first half, limited the Trojans to only 76 yards rushing in posting a 14-7 Class 7A state quarterfinal overtime win Saturday at South's Ken Bruhn Field.
The Gators (10-2) advance to the semifinals to play top-seeded Geneva next weekend. The Vikings defeated Carmel 35-21.
"A phenomenal effort by the defense," said South coach Jim Stuglis. "We wanted to stop their fullback and we did a great job. Cary's offense is tough to stop but our defense has been outstanding the last 2 weeks."
Cary-Grove standout fullback Eric Chandler ran 16 times for only 40 yards. He was limited to 6 yards on 9 carries in the first half.
Set up by a fumble recovery from Ryan Kuhn, Colin Masterson followed his line into the end zone with 4:22 left in the first half to give South a 7-0 lead.
The Gators had a chance to tack on another score before the half but Drew Ormseth's pass was intercepted in the end zone by Cary-Grove safety Trent Sorensen.
The Trojans came out and scored on its first possesion of the second half. The Trojans' Rob Mago returned the opening kick off of the half 41 yards to the South 43 yard-line. On a third-and-8, Trojans quarterback Tyler Krebs lofted a pass in the direction of split end Chad McCarron, who outwrestled two Gators defenders for a 22-yard completion.
Two plays later, Krebs found McCarron in the end zone for an 18-yard TD and the game was tied at 7-7 with 9:11 left in the third quarter.
The defenses took over for the rest of regulation time, with neither team able to score. The Trojans had a chance to win, but Marcus Kerrigan's 44-yard field goal attempt with 2.7 seconds left in regulation, while long enough, was a little wide right, sending the game into overtime.
The Gators scored on their first possession of overtime when Derek Mortensen cracked the goal line for a 1-yard score on a fourth-and-1 play.
Crystal Lake South's defense, which was stifling all day, prevented the Trojans from tying the score in the extra session. After linebacker Max Bush, dropped Chandler for a 2-yard loss, Krebs misfired on 3 passes and Gator Nation celebrated the upset.
"Our defense was great all day," said Kuhn, who recovered 2 fumbles. "Everybody executed their assignments and we did a great job with the option. It was an unbelievable win."
Krebs completed 3 of 8 passes, all to McCarron for 44 yards and a score.
"They mauled us on offense," said Cary-Grove coach Bruce Kay. "We were fortunate to get the touchdown we got. Give South's defense credit. They just stuffed us all day. We lost 2 fumbles and you can't do that against a quality team like Crystal Lake South. Our defense played a great game, but our offense didn't do much."
The Gators' steady offense produced 135 rushing yards on 46 attempts. Masterson ran 19 times for 69 yards and a score while Mortensen bulldozed his way to 49 yards on 21 carries, including the winning score.
Ormseth was 5-of-8 passing for 58 yards and senior tight end Vince Benedetto grabbed 3 passes for 29 yards.