Prairie Ridge takes early FVC showdown over Cary-Grove
Bubbles from Cary-Grove’s visiting bleachers, compliments of a student fan’s plastic wand and bottle, floated above Prairie Ridge’s football players.
Nothing beats victory, however. Not even suds.
“Nothing beats this,” winning quarterback Luke Vanderwiel said.
Vanderwiel didn’t care about the bubbles, nor his 233 rushing yards on 27 carries, nor his four touchdowns, all of which showcased his speed, elusiveness and shiftiness. All the senior cared about was the outcome of Friday night’s season opener against defending Fox Valley Conference champion Cary-Grove.
Vanderwiel’s performance led the way as Prairie Ridge won 34-21 to open the season and FVC action.
So don’t burst his bubble and tell him it’s only one game.
“All I care about is the win,” Vanderwiel said. “That’s all that matters.”
The expected showdown of game-breaking offensive talents – Vanderwiel and C-G senior fullback Logan Abrams – never happened, as two-way star Abrams played only linebacker. He did not receive any snaps on offense.
“We were just really trying to stop Vanderwiel,” C-G coach Brad Seaburg said. “We felt like, first game of the year, it’s really tough to play both ways. I felt like [playing Abrams on defense only] gave us the best chance.
“We didn’t succeed in stopping [Vanderwiel],” Seaburg added with a chuckle.
Vanderwiel opened the scoring with a 79-yard TD burst on the last play of the first quarter, and his three scores had Prairie Ridge up 21-6 at halftime. He had 195 rushing yards at the break, before the Wolves hit the home team with a steady dose of 6-foot-4, 220-pound junior fullback Jake Wagler in the second half.
Wagler rushed 13 times for 105 yards, 85 in the second half.
“It was nice,” PR coach Mike Frericks said after Vanderwiel and Wagler combined for 338 rushing yards on 40 attempts. “Luke provides that lightning with that explosive-play [ability], and then Jake is that thunder. The second half [Wagler] really started developing our run game and made it tough for [Cary-Grove] because he was chunking up big gains at the end. That’s what you want your fullback to do is work, work, work, and then all of a sudden those big plays begin to open up, and it opens up the whole offense.”
Vanderwiel was fine with his lighter workload in the second half. He did add one more TD, zigging and zagging from 25 yards out with 4:28 left in the game for PR’s final score.
Wagler’s 12-yard TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter had extended the Wolves’ lead to 28-13.
“We’re always trying to get him the ball,” Vanderwiel said of his fullback. “He’s a beast.”
Each team took advantage of an errant punt snap to score.
PR was the first team to capitalize. Vanderwiel’s 15-yard TD run put the Wolves up 14-6 with 1:43 left before halftime. The Wolves then forced C-G to punt from its own 36, but a low snap resulted in an 11-yard loss, giving the ball to the visitors at the 25.
Vanderwiel then scrambled, darted to his across the field and won a race to the right pylon, giving PR a two-TD lead with 52 seconds before the break.
“He just moves really well,” said Abrams, who played the entire night on defense. “We can’t stutter and stare at him with deer-in-headlights eyes. We got to go at him and have proper angles.”
That’s easier said than done.
“We had a lot of opportunities to get him,” Seaburg said. “We had guys in the right spots. That’s something you can’t coach what that kid does. He just made some fantastic runs. And give their fullback [Wagler] credit too, because he had a good game as well.”
C-G got second-half TD runs from sophomore QB Jackson Berndt (7 and 3 yards), the first coming one play after a high punt snap resulted in a 28-yard loss. Ryan Lummis (seven carries, 79 yards) sprinted 39 yards in the second quarter for the Trojans’ first score.
“We had some good moments [offensively],” Seaburg said. “They never quit. We just never got any real sustained drives.”