Cary-Grove stops Huntley

While the Cary-Grove offense struggled at times, the Trojan defense put together another stellar effort.

Led by an early second half safety by Rich Kersten, the Trojans outscored upset-minded Huntley 16-0 in the second half in posting a 23-0 win over the Red Raiders in Fox Valley Conference Valley division play in Huntley Friday.

With the Trojans (6-0, 2-0) holding a tenuous 7-0 halftime lead, Kersten was able to blow through the Red Raider line to tackle Huntley quarterback Brandon Luczak in the end zone for a safety with only 7 seconds elapsed in the second half.

"We had the skin defense on and I was able to get penetration into the backfield," said Kersten. "It was a great way to start the second half."

The Trojan defense made life miserable for the Huntley offense in a game contested in a steady rain.

The Red Raiders (3-3, 0-2) managed only 89 yards of total offense, 63 rushing and 26 passing while amassing only 2 first downs.

The Cary-Grove offense, which has steamrolled opponents defenses in first halves of all 5 games this season, scored only 7 points in the first half on a 5-yard run by Eric Chandler with 1:04 left in the first half.

The top-ranked Trojans, who accounted for 101 yards of rushing in the first half, throttled the Huntley defense for 214 yards on the ground in the second half which included a 18-yard run by Alex Hembrey and a 2-yard run by Chandler.

"Huntley was very physical and their defense pushed us," said Cary-Grove coach Bruce Kay. "It was good to play the starters for four quarters and get pushed in tough conditions. The safety by Rich was big for us. He did a great job. Anytime you can get points on the boards early in the second half it is a plus."

Hembrey led the Trojans with 154 yards on 13 carries and a score while Chandler bulldozed his way to 116 yards on 20 carries and 2 scores.

"Huntley was a tough physical team and they are the best team we played all season." said Chandler. "They pushed us for four quarters in very tough conditions to play. We needed that."

Huntley coach Steve Graves praised his team's defense.

"We did a great job of bottling them up in the first half," said Graves. "That safety was huge. It made it a two-score game and we couldn't recover."