CL South 48, Grayslake Central 6
A certain Muppet character once muttered the words "It's not easy being green."
And perhaps only Kermit the Frog would have fully appreciated all of the green on the uniforms wore by both teams at Crystal Lake South on Friday night.
Unfortunately, Grayslake Central was feeling a different color afterward -- blue -- as the Rams fell to the host Gators 48-6 in a Fox Valley crossover.
It was a feel good showing for Crystal Lake South as it scored a touchdown on each of their first 7 drives and piling up over 500 yards of offense.
The Gators got results with both their running and passing games. Senior quarterback Ian Ormseth completed 11 of 14 passes for 201 yards and 3 touchdowns, all in the first half. Tight end Vince Benedetto caught a 21-yarder to open the scoring while receivers Richie Schumacher and Sean Wilson hauled in the other touchdown receptions.
"The offensive line made it easy on me tonight; they really stepped up," said Ormseth.
Via the ground, T.J. Galloway had 3 scores to go along with his 81 yards rushing. Junior Derek Mortensen led the way with 83 yards while reserve Joe Thomas reeled off a 31-yard touchdown of his own.
Grayslake suffered a setback early on as starting quarterback Kevin O'Rourke left the game late in the first quarter with a leg injury.
"Kevin got leg-whipped, and he'll be evaluated tomorrow to see how seriously he is hurt," said Rams coach Nick Goshe.
Greg Bey replaced O'Rourke for the remainder of the game, a reversal of what the Rams did last week at quarterback in starting Bey and then going to O'Rourke. O'Rourke did remain on the sidelines in crutches.
The Rams scored the last points of the contest on a 2-yard touchdown run by Rich Smith. Junior Doug Pate led the Rams with 42 yards on 4 carries.
-- Matt Misiek
C-G 63, Grayslake N. 14:ŒAfter suffering its first regular-season loss in 29 games just one week ago, Cary-Grove's football team took a total of one quarter to get back into the swing of things.
The Trojans (2-1, 0-0) fell behind by 14-points to Grayslake North in the first quarter, but after scoring 42-points in the second, the Trojans cruised to a 63-14 victory over the Knights in a Fox Valley crossover game at Cary-Grove Stadium.
"In the beginning we just didn't execute well and they took advantage of it," Trojans coach Bruce Kay said. "Then we settled down and started playing defense and our offense got going. Then we were OK."
Helping give Cary-Grove a much-needed spark was sophomore Alex Hembrey. His 65-yard punt return helped set up the first touchdown of the game, which was scored on a 1-yard run by A.J. Hoger.
On the next defensive series, Hembrey was at it again, this time intercepting a pass thrown by Knights (0-3, 0-0) quarterback Nick Harrington. It didn't take too long after that for the offense to put the ball in the end zone. On the second play of the drive, Eric Chandler spun his way free from defenders and was able to score from 25-yards out tying the game at 14.
The Trojans rushed for a total of 336 yards.
The C-G defense continued to step up its play in the second quarter with consecutive interceptions by Paul Rands and Matt Nelson. With a few key blocks, Nelson was able to take his up field for a touchdown from 30-yards out. A 57-yard run by Hoger and a 45-yard punt return by Hembrey helped cap the 42-point quarter and really push the game out of reach.
"It is always important to get back on the right track," Kay said. "I think we have responded very well. We have responded to the deficits two weeks in a row and I think the kids showed a lot of courage and character and played well."
-- Eric Reyes