Prairie Ridge beats Crystal Lake Central to clinch piece of FVC title

CRYSTAL LAKE – Prairie Ridge quarterback Joey Vanderwiel rolled right, tossed a pass back to the left to running back Dom Creatore and was rudely taken to the ground by a Crystal Lake Central defensive lineman.

Vanderwiel knew what was going to happen, however.

The screen pass had worked exactly as planned. Creatore had two blockers in front of him and no Tigers defender laid a hand on him as he raced for a 33-yard touchdown just before halftime.

“We put that in last week,” Vanderwiel said. “That was big for us, a big momentum swing. We have to come out stronger. We came out flat.

“Everyone executed it great and we got a touchdown. I was laying on the floor and put my hands up (signifying touchdown).”

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Crystal Lake Central's George Dimopoulos tries to catch a pass in-between the defense of Prairie Ridge's Luke Vanderwiel and Logan Thennes during a Fox Valley Conference football game on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver )

It was the Wolves’ second touchdown in the last 2:25 of the half and propelled them to a 35-6 victory Friday night in their Fox Valley Conference game. The win clinched a share of the FVC championship (8-0, 8-0 FVC), who finish the regular season against winless McHenry next week.

Creatore’s first of three touchdowns, on the screen play, gave the Wolves a 14-6 halftime advantage.

“It’s a play we actually used with [fullback] Connor Greenwald [from the 2011 team],” Wolves coach Chris Schremp said. “Similar formation and the way it operates out of our trips formation. We’ve been running trips a lot this year, so we knew people are running hard from the backside on our sprint-out. We saw them penetrating quite a bit and knew that would be open.”

Central (4-4, 4-4) scored first when quarterback Jason Penza hit wide receiver George Dimopoulos over the middle who took it 87 yards for a touchdown with 8:31 to go in the second quarter.

But that was the last play of the game for Penza, who suffered a right (throwing) shoulder injury on the first play from scrimmage. He stayed in until the touchdown play until the pain was too much. He went to a hospital for an X-ray and observation.

“He came out and said, ‘Coach, it’s bad,’ " Tigers coach Dirk Stanger said. “He stayed out there and threw two good dig routes. There are no breaks, but I don’t know specifically [what is injured].”

Sophomore Abraham Quinn came in and was 10 of 24 for 114 yards. The Tigers gained nine first downs in the second half.

“As he got into the flow of the game he did a really good job,” Stanger said. “He had a little bit of a rough start, and that’s typical when a quarterback goes down and the backup goes in. That first series might not be the prettiest. I get it.

“In the second half, he made some really good throws, some really good reads. I’m really proud of him. We just have to keep growing from there.”

Central needs to beat Hampshire next week to make the playoffs.

Prairie Ridge held Central to two first downs in the first half and picked off Penza once.

“Penza going out was a big thing, but it didn’t affect us at all,” Wolves linebacker Jace Kranig said. “We were relentless from the start of the game. We kept going, playing our style of football. We pursue to the football and we just do our job, our one-eleventh, as we say.”

Prairie Ridge ran for 382 yards, led by sophomore running back Luke Vanderwiel, who had 170 on five attempts, highlighted by an 86-yard run that was not a touchdown. Joey Vanderwiel gained 114 yards on 13 carries.

Prairie Ridge shared the title with Huntley and Jacobs last season and now the top-ranked team in The Associated Press Class 5A poll can win outright.

“[Winning the FVC] is everything, two years in a row is something special. Our coaches give us great game plans every week,” Joey Vanderwiel said. “We knew we had some talented guys, we lost a few players last year, it happens every single year. But tonight we were the master of our fate and captains of our soul.”

Prairie Ridge 35, Crystal Lake Central 6

CL Central 0 6 0 0 – 6

Prairie Ridge 0 14 14 7 – 35

Second quarter

CLC–Dimopoulos 87 pass from Penza (kick failed), 8:31.

PR–Finn 4 run (Porter kick), 2:25.

PR–D. Creatore 33 pass from J. Vanderwiel (Porter kick), 0:30.

Third quarter

PR–J. Vanderwiel 32 run (Porter kick), 8:39.

PR–D. Creatore 12 run (Porter kick), 3:29.

Fourth quarter

PR–D. Creatore 4 run (Porter kick), 4:00.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–CL Central: Buehler 12-16, Quinn 3-12, Hammond 1-5, Team 1-minus 1, Penza 2-minus 3. Totals: 19-19. Prairie Ridge: L. Vanderwiel 5-170, J. Vanderwiel 13-114, D. Creatore 13-59, Finn 11-43. Totals: 42-386.

PASSING–CL Central: Quinn 10-24-0-114, Penza 3-4-1-96. Prairie Ridge: J. Vanderwiel 2-7-1-40.

RECEIVING–CL Central: Dimopoulos 5-147, Kelley 4-37, Hammond 2-19, Noennig 1-8, Buehler 1-minus 2. Prairie Ridge: D. Creatore 1-33, L. Vanderwiel 1-7.

TOTAL TEAM YARDS–Prairie Ridge 426, CL Central 229.