It's a 2-0 start for Larkin with win over Oswego East
Lit by Friday's full moon, Larkin's Leandre Lee turned into Teen Wolf.
The senior linebacker stuffed Oswego East's Antoine Allen-Jackson on a 4th-and-1 after the senior had rushed all over the Royals. Lee and the Royals made Allen-Jackson and the Wolves' offense look more like Teen Wolf 2 with Friday's 34-7 nonconference victory at Memorial Field in Elgin.
"It gained us momentum," Lee said. "They had been running the ball well. That stopped them. They changed their whole game plan."
Larkin busted loose as well. The Royals scored 21 points in the final 3:53 of the first half to take a 28-7 halftime lead.
Jalen Williams scored on runs of 20 and 31 yards to kick off the scoring. Williams (24 carries, 104 yards) first score tied the game at 7 with 2:53 left in the first half and tied the game after Allen-Jackson scored with 7:29 remaining.
"The momentum shifted good," Williams said. "We scored another one and another one. We kept piling on."
Lee stuffed Allen-Jackson giving the Royals (2-0) a turnover on downs with 56 seconds left in the first half. And that's when things really started to pick up for Larkin. Oswego East (0-2) set Larkin up on its 48 after the turnover and an encroachment penalty. Quarterback Kyle Newquist (8-for-12, 125 yards, 2 touchdowns) found Trevor Whitehead 2 plays later on and 48-yard bomb putting Larkin up 21-7 with 56 seconds left in the half. He would hook up with Whitehead (3 catches, 84 yards) again on a 14-yard scoring pass with 5:06 left in the fourth.
Oswego East was just looking to escape the half, when Allen-Jackson fumbled on the Wolves' 28 and Larkin's Michael Headtke scooped the ball up and ran down to the 17.
Bulldozing fullback Camerin Martin pounded the ball from 2 yards out to extend Larkin's lead to 28-7 just 19 seconds before halftime.
Allen-Jackson opened up the scoring by rushing for 41 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown on the Wolves' opening drive. Larkin held him to just 19 yards on 14 carries in the rest of the game.
"They took it to us in the first quarter running the ball," Royals' coach Matt Gehrig said.