Huntley goes to 3-0, but will it play next week?

While Huntley School District 158 deals with a potential teacher's strike that could affect the Red Raiders' chances of going 4-0 next week, the school's football team did make it a 3-0 start Friday night, downing McHenry 28-19 in a Fox Valley Conference crossover game in Huntley.

The Red Raiders weren't phased by the thoughts of a strike - they were busy playing football - but it didn't stop them from thinking about it.

"It's painful for everybody and we want all sides involved, everyone has a vested interest, and all sides to have this resolved quickly," said Huntley coach Steve Graves. "The sport that pays for it the worst, that has to qualify for postseason play and nobody else does is football. I'm really hoping common sense prevails and I hope it will."

"We have to stay focused if they do or don't strike," Huntley running back David Conrad said.

Conrad was indeed focused Friday, as he helped the Red Raiders to improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2001 with 128 yards on the ground and a 65-yard touchdown on the game's thrid play to get Huntley going.

Conrad, Jordan Neukirch, Brett Klickner and Tanner Sterns were a four-headed monster, a running attack that combined for 379 yards rushing. Neukirch scored on a pair of 3-yard runs, both putting the Red Raiders ahead, his first one giving Huntley a 14-13 lead with 2:13 in the second quarter.

But on the ensuing kickoff, Mike Soto got the lead right back after his 95-yard kickoff return, giving McHenry a 19-14 lead at the half.

To that point, McHenry had 122 rushing yards, 120 of them coming from Dana Kohn, who scored 2 touchdowns in the first half for the Warriors. Huntley would only allow 26 yards rushing in the second half, with Kohn finishing with 136 on the ground.

"Obviously we're trying to be a physical football team. It was game 3 that was going to be an evaluation for our team to pick it up to the next notch," Graves said.

After Neukirch intercepted Tyler Michel's second pass of the game at McHenry 46, he finished what he started, pounding the ball in for a 3-yard score to give Huntley a 28-19 lead late in the third quarter.

Sterns rushed for 58 yards and Kilckner added 52 on the ground in a balanced attack for Huntley.