Huntley cruises past Elgin
Huntley football coach John Hart had a simple message for his team Saturday after a 32-point victory: To beat Cary-Grove, you have still have to be better.
The Red Raiders scored on 6 of their first 7 possessions, held Elgin to less than 100 yards until a late drive without any regulars still playing, and cruised to a 48-16 victory at Memorial Field.
“We’re going to have to play better than this to beat a team like Cary-Grove,” Hart said. “There’s just no doubt about it.”
Huntley (2-0) opens its Fox Valley Conference Valley Division schedule next Friday, when it hosts defending league champion and Class 6A state runner-up Cary-Grove (0-2). The Red Raiders showed improvement from their opening-week win to Saturday and Hart feels they will need some more heading into next week’s matchup.
“We definitely left a lot of points on the field (in last week’s 23-12 win over Bartlett),” said Huntley’s Jake Scalise, who rushed for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 5 carries Saturday. “We definitely made some mistakes we needed to clean up. We fixed the mistakes we made last week and made sure we didn’t make them this week.”
Blake Jacobs connected with MacKian Stephans for an 11-yard touchdown on a 4th-and-7 with 8:14 remaining in the first quarter. The 2-point conversion attempt failed as Huntley took a 6-0 lead.
Jaylen Clemons took the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown for the Maroons (0-2). Ryan Sitter hit Dontrell Gaddy for a 2-point conversion and an 8-6 Elgin lead.
Huntley scored on its next possession on a 2-yard run from Mitch Kawell with 5:22 remaining in the first quarter as the Red Raiders took a 13-8 lead.
“Emotionally, we’re really high and then a couple of bad things happen, we get deflated,” first-year Elgin coach Kyle Rohde said. “Last week we got rolled. So coming out (Saturday) and actually being in the game in the first quarter and then having them come down and score, we’re not used to that. The games go up and down. You can’t ride the wave and get all the way down and just stay out there.”
The rest of the game belonged to Huntley. Scalise scored on a 78-yard run, Kawell added a 21-yard touchdown and Jacob Witt scored on a 15-yard run in less than a 6½-minute span in the second quarter for a 34-8 lead. Jacobs hit Brandon Altergott for a 14-yard touchdown with 1:22 remaining in the first half to make it 41-8 at halftime.
After each team punted to open the second half, Scalise had a 32-yard run down to the Maroons’ 1. He would cap the short drive on the next play for a 48-8 lead and the mercy rule was in effect.
Elgin drove 99 yards for a touchdown with 38.7 seconds remaining in the fourth as Jordan Smith caught a 12-yard score from Sitter. Sitter hit Johnny Higgins for the 2-point conversion for the final points.
Sitter was 13-of-24 for 130 yards. Clemons led Elgin on the ground with 21 yards on 7 carries.
Jacobs went 11-of-17 for 108 yards and 2 touchdowns, completing passes to seven different receivers. Kawell had 50 yards on 10 carries