CL South slides past Grant

Going into Friday night's season opener, Crystal Lake South and Grant were two teams looking to build on last year's playoff successes. Crystal Lake South was a semi-finalist in Class 7A and the Bulldogs were quarterfinalists in Class 6A.

In the end, the Gators handled the swamp-like conditions a bit better than the Bulldogs in a 24-7 victory in Crystal Lake.

Trailing 10-7 in the fourth quarter, the Gators took control when Grant quarterback Justin Cokefair was picked off by defensive back Alec Giles. Giles trudged across the field and down the sidelines for a 62-yard interception return touchdown.

"It was luck of the draw, "said Giles. "I was in a good defensive position and my defensive teammates made a lot of great blocks for me."

That ended a rough night for Cokefair (2-of-10 passing, 27 yards) under center and Bulldogs coach Kurt Rous felt these types of mistakes were the difference.

"First game mistakes, I guess," said Rous. "We have to watch the film and evaluate, possibly make some changes, if needed. We did some good things but we did more bad things."

Crystal Lake South (1-0) scored on its opening drive of the game as fullback JD Barchard plowed in from 3 yards out.

Grant (0-1) came back in the third quarter to even the score with a bit of razzle-dazzle. Cokefair pitched the ball to running back Leo Minne, who then passed downfield to Quinn Watters for a 36 yard gain. Fullback Dan Hourihan took it in three plays later.

Gators quarterback Drew Ormseth (5-of-8 8, 80 yards) capped off the scoring late in the fourth quarter with a 12-yard scamper.

When asked about next week's home opener on their new field turf, Rous was excited to play back in Fox Lake.

"It will be nice to get home and play on a real field instead of one that looks like a swamp," said Rous. "It seemed to not affect them (Crystal Lake South) too much but maybe we're not used to playing on mud anymore since we have the field turf."