Dundee-Crown snaps 9-game skid after win over McHenry
This was not a night for Dundee-Crown to spend a lot of time nitpicking little details from Friday night's Fox Valley Conference football game at McCracken Field.
The focus after a quick postgame huddle was on the bigger picture of what the Chargers had missed for slightly more than a year. The celebration of returning to the victory column and snapping a 9-game losing streak after they held on to beat McHenry 13-7.
"It feels great after not having won for nine straight games," said senior quarterback Zach Randl of D-C's first win since it beat Burlington Central 8-7 in Week 3 last season.
"I told them to enjoy it," said D-C coach Mike Steinhaus. "With a program like ours we have to fight for everything. We had a tough game last week (55-19 loss to Crystal Lake Central) but we rallied this week and worked hard and fought."
D-C (1-3, 1-3) had to fight through not having top receiver Kali Freeman and starting linebacker Isaiah Blake because of injuries suffered last week. But sophomores such as running back Kadin Malone (9 carries, 90 yards), offensive lineman Zachary Anderson and defensive back Kyle Pierce helped make a big impact.
Malone scored on touchdown runs of 1 yard 1:23 before halftime and 2 yards with 6:03 left in the third to put the Chargers up 13-0. Anderson teamed with seniors Robert Grows, Collin Einhorn, Jack Rice and Anthony Rubio up front so Randl could complete 8-of-11 passes for 72 yards and junior Terrion Spencer could rush for 83 yards on 18 carries and catch 3 passes for 43 yards.
"I'm proud of my O-line," Malone said. "We've got a lot of inexperienced players on the team but we keep working hard."
Pierce sealed the victory with 14 seconds left with an interception at the McHenry 30.
"The biggest thing is to build off all the good things," Randl said, "and leave behind all the negatives of what we did."
That included D-C being on the verge of putting away the game as it drove to the McHenry 26 early in the fourth quarter.
A leaping interception by sophomore Jeffrey Schwab at the 2 and a 56-yard run on the next play by sophomore quarterback Ethan Dietmeyer (12 carries, 87 yards) sparked the Warriors (0-4, 0-4). Junior fullback Jacob Jones (19 carries, 98 yards) plowed into the end zone from 6 yards on fourth-and-2 to cap the 9-play, 98-yard march that took only 3:50.
"It's not an offense where you can get behind the chains and be successful," first-year McHenry coach Jeff Schroeder said of the new triple option. "It's got to be pretty flawless. That (drive) is what it's capable of but it's just going to take time."
D-C then ate up the next 5:24, primarily with the running of Malone and Spencer, and McHenry had only 31 seconds and no timeouts when it got the ball back at its 14. Two plays later Pierce started the Chargers' celebration.
"I'm proud of our guys," Steinhaus said. "We have a good senior class and a great group of kids. I'm proud of them every week and they just keep improving."