Huntley trips up McHenry for 3rd in a row
On Huntley's first play from scrimmage, running back Chris Cunningham took the snap and ran 72 yards to pay dirt for an early 6-0 Red Raider lead.
You had a feeling from the first play alone, Huntley would make it a track meet during its homecoming game.
And the Red Raiders did just that.
The change to the power I-formation at Huntley (3-2, 1-0) two weeks ago has proved to be a major benefit. Not only when Cunningham went down with an ankle injury, other Red Raider backs stepped up to amass 309 rushing yards in a 43-13 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division win over McHenry.
One of those runners was Christian Cervantes. Cervantes was inserted in the third quarter as the feature back after McHenry scored on the second half kickoff to pull the Warriors (0-5, 0-1) to within one score, 12-7. Cervantes not only picked up the slack for Cunningham, he rushed for 165 yards alone. He and quarterback Tim Lycos rushed to touchdowns in the third quarter, and it was Cervantes' 46-yard score that put Huntley up 29-7 with 1:21 left in the third quarter. The flood gates were pouring.
"I can thank my line so much for giving me those blocks, to get the most yards I possibly could," said Cervantes. "I had to cut it to the outside and make my own decisions."
Individual decisions were also key to the Huntley defense. McHenry's passing attack and no-huddle offense had the Red Raiders on their toes all night, including defensive back Joshua Moore. Moore gave up more than 4-5 inches of height to the Warriors receivers, but knocked away several key passes in the end zone throughout the night, keeping the Warriors out. Moore came up with 1 of 2 Huntley interceptions to fuel a defense that held the Warriors' (0-5, 0-1) offensive attack just to 166 total yards.
"In practice all week, they were just having me bump and run and making sure that I just stuck the guy because we knew they were running slants and fades when they had the guys singled out to the sides," said Moore. "We didn't want to let our week go to waste."
"He just really got a lot better tonight, and really help our defense have a chance to be really successful," Huntley coach Matt Gehrig said.
What's more scary about McHenry's offensive output was that Huntley held its rushing game to negative 30 yards. Slants and fades were the only option for the McHenry offense.
"Our kids had a gutsy, hard, team effort," Gehrig said. "McHenry did a great job, their defensive coaches of game planning to try to stop our run game."
Huntley's Tim Lycos ran for 47 yards, including a 22-yard and a 5-yard touchdown run, the latter putting Huntley ahead 35-13 in the third quarter. He also completed 10 of 15 passes for 136 yards.