McHenry cruises past Huntley
With only 3 minutes elapsed in the game, Huntley fell behind McHenry 14-0.
The last 45 minutes weren't much better for the visiting Red Raiders.
McHenry, capitalizing on 3 lost fumbles by the Red Raiders, cruised past Huntley 28-7 in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division game at McHenry's McCracken Field Friday night.
"We were not prepared to play," said Huntley coach Steve Graves. "My responsibility as the head coach is to get our players ready to play and we weren't ready to play. That's my fault. We were out of sync all night. We didn't tackle well and McHenry was ready to play. Their coaches did a great job of getting them ready to play. They executed and played a great game."
McHenry (2-3, 1-0) took the opening kickoff and marched 67 yards on 5 plays, capped by a 19-yard pass from Thomas Rose to Jon Schmidt with 10:03 left in the first quarter. After stopping Huntley (3-2, 0-1) on 3 plays, McHenry forced the Red Raiders to punt. Dana Kohn took Marcus Popenfoose's punt at the Red Raider 42 and followed a sea of blockers untouched into the end zone for a 42-yard touchdown. Brad Teagarden's kick was good and McHenry led 14-0 with 9 minutes left in the first quarter.
The Warriors scored once more before half on a 11-yard run by Rose with 8:22 remaining. McHenry led 21-0 half.
Huntley's lone highlight came with 9:52 left in the third quarter when quarterback Timothy Lycos hooked up with senior running back Brett Kleckner for an 83-yard TD pass. Kleckner broke several tackles in romping to pay dirt. Nicholas Bralich's kick pulled the Red Raiders to within 21-7. But Huntley couldn't slice any further into the McHenry lead.
Lycos was 9-of-16 passing for 151 yards and a score.
The McHenry defense limited Huntley to only 17 yards rushing on 28 carries and 9 first downs. The Warriors sacked Lycos 5 times for 27 yards in losses.
"The kids played with a lot of emotion tonight, especially on the defensive side of the ball." said McHenry coach Tim Beagle. "They were incredible. We gave up the one big play but that was about it."
Rose picked apart the Red Raider defense with short, accurate passes. The McHenry senior completed 21-of-34 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. Trevor Marunde caught 7 passes for 103 yards.