January 06, 2025
Sports - McHenry County


Sports - McHenry County

High school football: No. 5 Cary-Grove (10-1) vs. No. 4 Batavia (10-1) in Class 7A quarterfinal

Cary-Grove's Zachary Underwood (left) tackles Benet's Charlie Weidenbach during the first quarter of Saturday's Class 7A playoff game in Cary November 7, 2015. Cary-Grove defeated Benet, 35-17 and will play in the 7A quarterfinal at Batavia next week.

Class 7A

No. 5 Cary-Grove (10-1) vs. No. 4 Batavia (10-1)

When: 1 p.m. Saturday, Bulldog Stadium.

About the Trojans: C-G is 30-10 in the playoffs since the 2004 season after its 35-17 second-round victory over Benet Academy. … FB-LB Tyler Pennington rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns, and also added three sacks to lead the Trojans last week. Pennington, a junior, passed former FB Eric Chandler (3,483) as the Trojans’ career rushing leader earlier this season and has 4,049 yards for his career. … Backup QB Bobby Collins led the offense in two playoff victories while regular starter J.P. Sullivan recovered from mononucleosis. Sullivan returned to practice this week and will start Saturday.

About the Bulldogs: Batavia has been in the playoffs for six consecutive years and won the Class 7A state championship two years ago. … The Bulldogs rolled past Pekin (56-7) and Simeon (35-14) to reach the quarterfinals for the third time in five years. … WR Canaan Coffy has 74 receptions for 1,054 yards and 10 touchdowns, while QB Kyle Niemiec has thrown for 2,460 yards with 22 touchdowns and only four interceptions. … RB Zach Garrett has rushed for 1,099 yards. … TE Glenn Albanese (6-5, 220) is a big target and had three touchdown catches last week.

Up next: The winner advances to meet the winner between No. 1 Glenbard West (11-0) vs. No. 9 Rockford Auburn (10-1) in the semifinals.

Joe Stevenson

Joe Stevenson

I have worked at the Northwest Herald since January of 1989, covering everything from high school to professional sports. I mainly cover high school sports now.