Team effort sends Burlington Central past Crystal Lake South

BURLINGTON – Burlington Central’s offense was an equal-opportunity employer Friday night.

Thirteen players had touches and four scored. Several defensive players made big contributions, as well.

It all added up to a 33-6 victory against Crystal Lake South in Fox Valley Conference action on Rocket Hill.

Zach Samaan scored twice, and Zane Pollack, Henry Deering and Jackson Alcorn once each for Central (2-1, 2-1).

Pollack’s 7-yard run on the last play of the first quarter put the Rockets ahead to stay. They broke the game wide open with three second-quarter scores. Samaan scored on runs of 38 and 3 yards and Alcorn took one in himself just before halftime.

Central started somewhat slowly. South started the game with two long drives that ended in a punt and a missed field goal. In between, the Rockets lost a fumble on their first play from scrimmage. But the Gators couldn’t convert and the Rockets didn’t make many mistakes after that.

Mike Schmidt’s interception late in the first quarter helped swing the momentum, setting up Pollack’s touchdown three plays later.

“We’ve got a lot of different guys playing,” said Central coach Brian Iossi. “We do a lot of rotations, keep our guys fresh. I think that’s the deepest roster we’ve had here.”

Pollock led Central’s ground attack with 66 yards. Deering added 51. Alcorn passed for 122 yards and ran for 32 more.

“It’s really easy when you’ve got a bunch of guys that you can trust, that’s on the field, all 11 of them,” Alcorn said. “The offensive line, knowing they’ll do their job up front. And we have so many weapons, it’s great to have them.

“We came in and we wanted to run the ball down their throat and that’s exactly what we did. I didn’t really need to do much. The offensive line did a great job and that’s why we were able to run the ball all night.”

Nathaniel Nordwind-Caraballo had an early sack that killed the Gators’ first drive, and several other big stops.

South finally got its offense going with AJ Demirov taking the snaps. The Gators’ roster lists his position simply as “athlete,” and he demonstrated the versatility that the title implies. He ran for 92 yards, passed for 23, caught a pass, and even returned a punt.

He led the Gators on an 80-yard fourth-quarter drive, taking it in himself from 11 yards out to get the Gators on the scoreboard.