Dundee-Crown earns opening win against Crystal Lake South

CARPENTERSVILLE – When the bright lights shine on a high school football team for the first game of the season, coaches learn a lot about their team.

After months of practice, training and work in the weight room, opening night is when teams turn all of their hard work into results.

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For Dundee-Crown coach Mike Steinhaus, he left the field Friday night learning his team was resilient and tough in their 20-14 win over Crystal Lake South.

“So proud of our guys, they played for their school and community, and they learned that what they do in practice matters, and they also learned what it takes to fight through the times,” Steinhaus said.

D-C (1-0, 1-0 FVC) made a great first impression on the opening drive of the game. Running back Kadin Malone was the difference maker on a seven-play drive that resulted in Malone’s 14-yard touchdown run to put the Chargers up 6-0.

The D-C offensive line was paving the way for the strong ground game, and they knew as a unit they had to perform to get the results they desired.

“We came out with a mindset that we needed to stick to our keys, be aggressive, and we knew all summer long to earn a win like tonight, we knew we had to step up,” said lineman Zachary Anderson, who also had a sack and tackle for loss on defense.

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South (0-1, 0-1), however, used its running game, as well, to find the end zone for the first time of the season. Running back Logan Miller’s number was called early and often for the Gators, and he produced. He capped an eight-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to put South up 7-6.

The Chargers rallied late in the first half to take the lead into the locker room as Terrion Spencer took the handoff and then flipped a 4-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Jobe to make it 14-7 at the break.

After the break, the Chargers continued to call on the ground game to control the clock and put more points on the board. Spencer scored his second touchdown of the game with 19-yard run that put D-C up for good with a 20-7 lead. Spencer ended the game with nine carries for 56 yards with a rushing and passing touchdown. Malone finished the game with 14 carries for 98 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Hayden DeMarsh was 8-of-6 passing for 84 yards.

South struggled to find consistency on offense. The Gators did, however, have some explosive plays. AJ Demirov provided a dazzling 35-yard touchdown run for South’s other score of the game. Demirov finished with six carries for 62 yards and the touchdown. Miller had 13 carries for 56 yards.

“This was a really good battle tonight between two teams that played really hard, our guys stayed together, we pushed forward, but we didn’t make the plays when needed, and we’ll work on that moving forward,” South coach Rob Fontana said.