CL South new king of the Valley
The streak is over. The Valley Division of the Fox Valley Conference has a new football king.
Crystal Lake South, which finished second behind Cary-Grove in the Fox Valley Conference or Valley Division every year since 2004, ended a string of seven regular-season losses to its archrival with a 28-14 victory at Ken Bruhn Field in Crystal Lake Friday.
The win clinched no worse than a tie for the FVC Valley Division title for the Gators, their first league championship since 1993.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time," Vanderbilt-bound offensive tackle Jake Bernstein said. "It feels great. A lot of guys had their heads on straight tonight."
The Gators also snapped Cary-Grove's 41-game winning streak in Fox Valley Conference play, the longest streak in league history. The defeat was the first for Cary-Grove (5-3, 3-1) in a FVC or Valley Division game since Week 8 of the 2003 season.
CL South (8-0, 4-0) held the Trojans' triple option offense to 164 rushing yards and 232 total yards.
"We've been running effectively all year," Cary-Grove coach Bruce Kay said. "It's one of those things. Give them some credit. When they needed to make the plays they did."
Two of CL South's key playmakers were a pair of seniors: quarterback Drew Ormseth and tight end Kevin Rogers.
Ormseth rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown, and he threw 3 scoring passes to Rogers, who entered the game with 4 receptions for 70 yards and no touchdowns.
"We've been working on that for a few weeks," Ormseth said of getting the tight end more involved. "We didn't want to show it unless we needed it. This game we kind of needed it. It was a big game."
Ormseth put the Gators ahead 7-0 with 1:45 left in the first quarter, courtesy of a 16-yard run up the gut, but Cary-Grove evened the game early in the second quarter. The Trojans recovered a fumble at the CL South 29-yard line and scored 4 plays later when Corey Laktas hit Joe Ryan for a 23-yard touchdown on fourth-and-4.
The Gators lost their starting running back, Bolek Mikulec, to injury on their ensuing possession. He was stuffed for a loss on a fourth-down attempt and was taken off the field on a stretcher. Word reached the Gators after the game that Mikulec was in good condition.
But Cary-Grove couldn't take advantage of the good field position and eventually turned the ball over on downs at the CL South 25. The Trojans recovered another CL South fumble at midfield moments later but were forced to punt.
"They were a very good defense, and I give them a lot of credit," Laktas said, "but we had very poor execution."
"We had all the opportunities in the first half offensively and we just did not cash in," Kay said.
"We did not execute. When you run the option, as in any running attack, you have to block all levels and we didn't block them efficiently."
The Gators took a 14-7 lead shortly before halftime when Ormseth threw a fade to the 6-foot-3 Rogers, who also plays basketball. He outleaped a 5-11 defender for the go-ahead score.
The Gators took control early in the third quarter when Rogers made a nifty catch for a 4-yard pass from Ormseth with for a 21-7 lead.
Needing a spark, the Trojans turned to senior fullback Nick Jimenez, who carried 7 times for 31 yards during a 12-play, 75-yard drive, which he capped with a 4-yard touchdown run.
That score brought Cary-Grove within 21-14 with 3:33 left in the fourth quarter.
The Trojans tried for an onside kick, but it was recovered by Joe Coriaci. Kean Loupee turned CL South's good field position into great field position 2 plays later when he raced 41 yards on a counter play to the Cary-Grove 14.
Ormseth and Rogers then capped their productive evening with their third scoring play.
Was Rogers expecting to be such an integral part of the historic win for the Gators?
"Not as much as I was," he said. "I mean, I expect to get the ball a couple of times a game, but never 3 touchdowns like that."
"It's just unbelievable. I've never won a conference championship in any high school sport, so it's an unbelievable feeling."