Scouting Crystal Lake South @ McHenry
Crystal Lake South (7-1, 3-1) at McHenry (4-4, 3-1)
When: Today at 7:15 p.m. at McCracken Field
Last year: Crystal Lake South 31, McHenry 0
Last week: Cary-Grove 28, CL South 16; McHenry 37, Jacobs 12
Outlook: The Gators still have much on the line this week, therefore, shaking off last week's disappointing loss to Cary-Grove is critical. They will face McHenry, which has 43 playoff points and would be a shoe-in for an at-large bid with a victory. "The hardest thing right now is bouncing back from something like that," CL South coach Jim Stuglis said Thursday of the loss to Cary-Grove. "When your ultimate goal for the season has been taken from you, it's very difficult to rebound. The kids are trying to practice hard, but we're a little sluggish. But we'll try to put it together because 8-1 is heck of a lot better than 7-2. At 8-1 we're pretty much guaranteed a home game. At 7-2 we might be traveling because we don't have a whole lot of playoff points." Beating McHenry, which is coached by CL South alum Tim Beagle, means containing the Warriors improved spread offense. Led by junior quarterback Thomas Rose (1,986 yards, 13 TDs), McHenry has won 3 of its last 4 games, losing only at Cary-Grove on a fourth-down pass in the final seconds. The Gators have not faced such a prolific passing attack this season. "We thought maybe Bartlett would have something like that or maybe even Huntley, but when we look at McHenry on film there's nothing even close to them," Stuglis said. "We watched them against St. Charles North (in Week 2) and from then until now they're a completely different team. Their quarterback can throw right on the money, the guys are running really good routes, and their short passing game acts basically as long handoffs. They're doing a great job with it. This is a team at 4-4 that's very dangerous." The Gators are currently the smallest school listed in Class 7A. A loss to McHenry, also a 7A school, could theoretically push the Gators down to Class 6A when the playoff dust settles.