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CARY – Each week the Cary-Grove offense seems to have someone new as the focus of its option attack. In the first-round win against Wheeling, it was quarterback Bobby Collins who called his own number the most, finishing with 170 yards rushing. On Saturday, it was evident early that Tyler Pennington would be the main back with five straight carries on the Trojans’ first drive.
“Bobby [Collins] had a big game for us last week, and today we wanted to establish Tyler early,” Trojans coach Brad Seaburg said.
Penningon was the lead back most of the first half and finished with 121 yards on 12 carries as C-G cruised into the Class 6A quarterfinals with a 56-7 victory over Grayslake North at Al Bohrer Field. C-G will travel to DeKalb next weekend to face the Barbs.
The C-G running attack set the tone all afternoon against the Knights. Eleven players had carries for the Trojans (10-1), who finished with 388 yards rushing on 41 carries. Pennington (2), Collins (2), Kyle Pressley, Max Buss, and Adam DeAlba had touchdown runs for C-G.
“The first carry was a designed run for me, but after that, all my other carries were just reads by Bobby,” Pennington said. “The offensive line did a great job again all game creating huge holes for us to run through.”
After the game against Wheeling in which the Trojans did give up a lot of yards but not many points, the defense held Grayslake North in check all afternoon. Ben Ferrell and Danny Daigle each had interceptions for C-G, and Kevin Pedersen and Jordan Laktas each had sacks. The Trojans held Grayslake North to 175 yards of offense and a late touchdown on a long run by Griffin Gawenda.
“All season we have focused on the defense to do its job and get our offense back on the field,” Ferrell said. “Our defensive line provided great pressure all game, and that helped me get the interception. The defense really set the tone and played hard today.”
The C-G special teams also made their presence felt with a blocked punt in the second quarter that resulted in a touchdown recovery in the end zone by Max Skol.
“Any time you can get a score by your defense or special teams its big,” Seaburg said. “The defense played well again for us today, and we were able to get some timely turnovers and did a nice job stopping them. Momentum is important in the playoffs, so we wanted to get the offense going early and stop them on defense. We were able to do that today.”
Unsung Hero
Danny Daigle
Cary-Grove, so., DB
Daigle set the tone early for the Cary-Grove defense with three pass deflections and an interception in the first quarter.
Quick Stats
Cary-Grove 56, Grayslake North 7
Grayslake North 0 0 0 7- 7
Cary-Grove 14 28 7 7- 56
1st Quarter
CG–Pennington 1 run (Walsh kick),7:43
CG–Collins 1 run (Walsh kick),2:41
2nd Quarter
CG–Collins 3 run (Walsh kick),10:58
CG–Skol fumble recovery in end zone(Walsh kick), 9:43
CG–Pressley 20 run (Walsh kick), 9:26
CG–Pennington 15 run (Walsh kick),6:46
3rd Quarter
CG-Max Buss 1 run (Jake Busskick), 2:16
4th Quarter
GN–Gawenda 46 run (Perez kick), 10:15
CG–DeAlba 23 run (Jake Buss kick), 1:08
And Another Thing ...
Cary-Grove scored on all but one possession, and that was when it let the clock run out before halftime. The Trojans had no punts or turnovers and got to fourth down only once, which they were ableto convert.