High school football: Tyler Pennington, Cary-Grove run past McHenry

MCHENRY — Cary-Grove senior Kyle Pressley took the opening kickoff 46 yards and the Trojans never really slowed down from there. Running back Tyler Pennington scored three touchdowns as the Trojans went on to beat McHenry 42-14.

Pennington scored on the opening drive less than two minutes into the game. He added another score on the Trojans’ second drive on his way to 133 rushing yards on 16 carries.

“Whenever (coach) calls my number I’m happy, whenever he calls other guys' numbers I’m happy,” Pennington said. “I just like gaining yards and scoring points. Winning games is what I’m in it for.”

Cary-Grove (1-1, 1-1 Fox Valley Conference) did so handily after last week’s loss to Prairie Ridge. McHenry (1-1, 1-1 FVC) struggled against the Cary-Grove defense. McHenry coach Nat Zunkel said the Cary-Grove linebackers — including Pennington – forced the Warriors to make quick decisions.

“They’re a good football team. We knew they’d be big, strong and tough, and that’s exactly what they were,” Zunkel said. “We didn’t perform how we expected. We’re better than how we played, but good teams make you play poorly.”

Cary-Grove outgained McHenry 466 yards to 218 for the game. Of those 466 yards, 426 of them came on the ground. Magel rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown (on his 18th birthday).

Fullback Max Skol scored a touchdown and rushed for 36 yards on four carries. Backup quarterback Quinn Priester scored a touchdown and rushed for 52 yards on eight carries.

But it was the opening drive — started by Pressley’s return and capped by Pennington’s score — that set the tone.

“We did struggle last week, that’s no secret,” Pennington said. “Getting a good drive off the bat was really good for us.”

Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg said there was a concerted effort to get Pennington touches.

“Prairie Ridge did a nice job of taking him away last week and we really wanted to get Tyler going,” Seaburg said. “(Quarterback) Bobby (Collins) made some nice reads and made some nice passes too.”

For McHenry, quarterback Colton Klein threw for 134 yards on 9-of-12 passing. He scored a rushing touchdown in the second quarter to pull McHenry to 14-6. After that, Cary-Grove scored four unanswered touchdowns. McHenry only gained 80 yards in the second half.

“We got some pressure on the quarterback and started to make him feel a little bit uncomfortable,” Seaburg said. “We seemed to take away a lot of the timing that they wanted to do.”

UNSUNG HERO

Kyle Pressley

Cary-Grove, Sr., RB

Pressley caught a 19-yard pass from quarterback Bobby Collins on a fake punt midway through the first quarter. The Trojans kept their drive going and ended up scoring to go up 14-0 when it looked like McHenry had them stopped.

Cary-Grove 42, McHenry 14

Cary-Grove 14 14 14 0 - 42

McHenry 0 6 0 8 - 14

First quarter

C-G- Pennington 2 run (Walsh kick), 10:17.

C-G- Pennington 6 run (Walsh kick), 3:37.

Second quarter

M- Klein 1 run (2-point attempt failed), 8:36.

C-G- Magel 2 run (Walsh kick), 5:53.

C-G- Skol 17 run (Walsh kick), 0:09.

Third quarter

C-G- Pennington 10 run (Walsh kick), 8:22.

C-G- Priester 20 run (Walsh kick), 5:27.

Fourth quarter

M- Wagner 2 pass from Breisch (Breisch run), 3:59.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING- Cary-Grove: Collins 5-37, Magel 10-87, Pennington 16-133, Pressley 3-19, Skol 4-36, Priester 8-52, Perez 6-29, Johnson 3-33. Totas: 55-426. McHenry: Klein 17-24, Purpura 3-4, McManus 8-19, Crowley 3-4, L. Wheat 1-3, K. Wheat 1-minus 4, Breisch 3-20, Schmidt 1-1.Totals” 37-82.

PASSING- Cary-Grove: Collins 2-4-0-40, Priester 0-1-0-0. McHenry: Klein 9-12-0-134, Breisch 1-3-0-2.

RECEIVING- Cary-Grove: Magel 1-21, Pressley 1-19. McHenry: Mohr 2-70, Purpura 5-44, Crowley 2-20, Wagner 1-2

TOTAL TEAM YARDS: Cary-Grove 466, McHenry 218. Sophomore score: Cary-Grove 40, McHenry 0

AND ANOTHER THING …

The McHenry football team entered the field hand-in-hand with kids with Down syndrome from GiGi’s Playhouse in McHenry. GiGi’s Playhouse provides therapeutic and educational programs that advance literacy, math skills and motor skills for children with Down syndrome. The kids drew a loud cheer from the fans.