Huntley notes: Red Raiders needed trust in victory over Crystal Lake Central

Huntley coach Mike Naymola said trust was a big point of emphasis in the week leading up to the season opener with Crystal Lake Central.

It was also a big theme after the Red Raiders came back in the final minutes for a 26-21 victory.

“We went through so much adversity,” junior defensive back Zach Rysavy said after his diving interception with 48.7 seconds left ended the Tigers’ final hopes. “What we learned about ourselves is to trust each other and never back down for each other. I’m proud of how we battled adversity all game.”

That included senior running back/linebacker Haiden Janke being severely limited by leg cramps in the second half on the warm and humid evening. Janke had only 4 of his 17 carries and 13 of his 88 yards after halftime.

But junior quarterback Braylon Bower came through, as he rushed for 209 yards on 28 carries and was 13 for 18 passing for 89 yards. Bower rushed for 167 yards on 14 carries in the second half, 76 of those on an 80-yard drive where Janke was used primarily as a blocker before scoring from 4 yards to cut the Huntley deficit to 21-20 with 3:10 to play.

“Haiden told me to follow him and trust him on a couple of the runs I had, so I decided to trust him,” Bower said. “We learned we can trust each other tremendously, and we can’t do anything without the team. Without the team, this wouldn’t have been possible. We know we can trust each other to do the job.

“That’s what we did, and good things happened.”

There were still a couple of challenging moments ahead, as a missed extra point kept Huntley from tying the score. It got the ball back at the Central 32 after its special teams and defense forced a three-and-out deep in its territory. Then, after Bower’s 15-yard run, he went down on the sideline with leg cramps, and Naymola said “he was on the verge of tears in his eyes” since he would have to leave the game at a crucial point for at least one play.

Backup Cole Coppersmet came in, and Janke had a 4-yard gain. Then came a false start that pushed Huntley back to the 18. Bower returned and two plays later was in the end zone with the game-winning touchdown for the defending Fox Valley Conference tri-champions.

“It was an emotional rollercoaster with some highs and lows,” Naymola said. “We could have quit, could have complained and could have cowered in the corner, but that’s not what our guys are about.”

Friday Night Driving: Central and Huntley appeared to be holding a long drive contest Friday night. The first six touchdowns were on marches covering 80 to 96 yards that took between nine to 14 plays and took from three to six minutes off the clock.

Senior Haiden Janke finished all three Huntley drives with two 4-yard touchdown runs and another from a yard. The first-half drives of 89 yards on 14 plays in 5:35 and 80 yards on 14 plays in 6:00 helped keep CL Central’s explosive offense on the sideline. The 80-yarder on nine plays in 3:02 required more pace, because it faced a touchdown deficit when it started midway through the fourth quarter.

The Tigers’ first half-drives of 90 yards on 13 plays in 3:59 and 80 yards on 14 plays in 5:14 were capped on touchdown passes from Jason Penza (18 for 37, 307 yards) to George Dimopoulos (six catches, 92 yards) of 5 and 9 yards. The third, after Tyler Porter recovered a fumble at the 4, went 96 yards on 10 plays in 3:01. Griffin Buehler scored on a 6-yard run to put them up 21-14. And they actually accumulated 123 yards on that possession because of lost yardage on a run and 15-yard penalty.