Cary-Grove gets defensive to produce win
Cary-Grove will have better offensive efforts.
The Trojans won their opening round of the Class 6A playoffs with stifling, harassing and relentless defense.
Recovering 2 Crystal Lake Central fumbles and intercepting a Tiger pass, the sixth-seeded Trojans held 11th seed Central to 166 total yards of offense and 6 first downs in posting a 17-7 victory in a first round game at Cary's Al Bohrer Field Friday night.
The Trojans will play the winner of Saturday's game between No. 3 seed Nazareth Academy and No. 14 Deerfield. Cary-Grove (8-2) will be on the road for the second round.
"Our defense was outstanding tonight and has really been improving over the last three weeks," said Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg. "It was a dominant performance by the defense. We did a good job of anticipating the run and stopped them when they passed."
Central (6-4) gained most of its yardage on a 60-yard touchdown run by Matt McAlpine with 2:19 left in the first quarter.
Nose tackle Max Kersten, who sacked Crystal Lake Central quarterback Steven Lawless twice, recovered a fumble. Kyle Norberg also recovered a fumble while Owen Carey had an interception.
"The coaching staff did a great job of coming up with a great game plan," said Kersten. "We knew they would come out and play smashmouth football and we knew we had to fight through the blocks and get to the ball carrier. We know this is a new season and we know hard work in practice will produce victories."
The Trojan offense set the tone on the first series of the game.
Running the ball 13 times, the Trojans went 76 yards in 5:56, capped by a 1-yard touchdown from Quinn Baker. After MacAlpine's score tied the game at 7, Baker scored his second touchdown of the game on a 17-yard run with 11:02 left in the second quarter. Josh Buckingham's extra point gave the Trojans a 14-7 lead. That was the score at halftime.
Buckingham's 30-yard field goal with 3:07 left in the third quarter gave the Trojans a 10-point lead, 17-7.
Baker led the Trojans with 86 yards on 21 carries with 2 touchdowns. Fullback Stephen O'Malley pounded his way to 63 yards on 20 attempts.
"Our defense played great and kept us in the game," said Central coach Matt Fralick. "Cary-Grove's defense is tough to run on. They are so disciplined. You have to play a perfect game to beat them and we didn't."