Prairie Ridge ends Crystal Lake South's hopes
Total domination.
Scoring on the first play of the game, a 71-yard run by Jordan Getzelman, Prairie Ridge cruised past previously unbeaten and top-seeded Crystal Lake South 37-10 in a Class 6A quarterfinal game played at South's Ken Bruhn Field Saturday afternoon.
"We wanted to run that play," said PR coach Chris Schremp. "I thought 'Let's run it the first play of the game,' and Jordan ran well and we blocked so well."
Fourth-seeded Prairie Ridge (11-1) will play Rockford Boylan (12-0) in next week's semifinals.
"We played great in all areas of the game," said Schremp. "We played phenomenal on defense, offense and special teams. We had some personnel changes on defense because of injuries. We wanted to limit (CL South quarterback Drew) Ormseth and we did a great job of putting pressure on him and we didn't give them any big plays."
The PR secondary reaped the benefits of the pressure applied by the Wolves' defensive line by picking off 3 South passes. Matt Mugnai picked off 2 passes while John Borst also had an interception.
"We were well prepared for the game and I was able to read the passes," said Mugnai. "This was a great effort by the defense and a great win for the team."
Nursing a slim 9-3 halftime lead, the Wolves seized control of the game with two unanswered touchdowns. Nick Margiotta grabbed a 12-yard TD pass from Stephen Covalt and Covalt converted on a 2-point conversion run to give the Wolves a 17-3 lead with 7:32 left in the third quarter.
PR, which had lost to South 24-20 earlier in the season, scored an insurance TD on a 2-yard run from Connor Greenwald to take a 24-3 lead early in the fourth quarter.
South (11-1) bounced back on a 14-yard run by Bolek Mikulec to cut the PR lead to 24-10 with 6:19 left in the game.
The Wolves iced the game on their first play after the Gator TD when Covalt raced 53 yards for a score.
PR, which rushed for 253 yards, was led by Getzelman, who ran for 133 yards on 7 carries.
Ormseth, a 3-year starter at QB for the Gators, was 13-for-23 for 179 yards in his final high school game.
"We picked a bad day to play a bad game," said South coach Chuck Ahsmann. "Give Prairie Ridge credit. They played an outstanding game. But I am very very proud of our kids."