McHenry County notes: Cary-Grove loses fullback Logan Abrams to foot injury for rest of playoffs

If Cary-Grove is going to successfully defend its Class 6A championship, the Trojans will have to do it without Division-I prospect Logan Abrams.

Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg said the junior fullback/defensive lineman (6-foot-3, 224 pounds) had foot surgery Friday and is done for the season.

As a sophomore, Abrams led the Trojans in rushing, gaining 1,590 yards (6.2 per carry) and scoring 26 touchdowns. He carried the ball 31 times for 87 yards and two TDs in C-G’s 23-20 win over East St. Louis Senior in the state title game.

Abrams has a scholarship offer from Toledo.

“Logan is a horse – on offense, on defense,” said Seaburg, whose top-seeded Trojans (10-0) host No. 8 Antioch (8-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday in a second-round playoff game. “Replacing him is tough, but we’ve got a good team. [The injury] has provided opportunities for some other players, and the kids have done a good job.”

Abrams, a varsity player since his freshman year, injured his foot in the Trojans’ Week 6 homecoming win over Hampshire and has not played since then. He missed the season opener with a hamstring injury.

“We thought we’d be able to get him back, and then it just became apparent that it wasn’t going to happen,” Seaburg said.

Abrams should be back for the track and field season. Last spring, he qualified for state in the shot put and discus, placing eighth in the former in Class 3A.

Cary-Grove beat Chicago Senn 71-6 in its playoff opener Friday.

Welcome back, Jack: Jack Finn’s return was fine.

Much better than fine, actually.

Finn, Prairie Ridge’s senior fullback, rushed for 159 yards and four touchdowns on 15 carries – all in the first half – as the fifth-seeded Wolves cruised to a 65-6 win over No. 12 Chicago Goode STEM Academy in a Class 5A state playoff opener Saturday in Crystal Lake. Finn ran behind a line featuring tackles Zachary Helland and Isaac Rodriguez, guards Jack Pavlis and Angelo Kay and center Ben Nystrom.

Finn, a three-year varsity starter, had missed Prairie Ridge’s past four games with a high-ankle sprain suffered against Cary-Grove in Week 5.

Finn opened the scoring on the game’s first play from scrimmage, running untouched up the middle for a 53-yard TD.

“The blocking was amazing,” Finn said. “It felt amazing just to be out there playing with my brothers and having them play for me and me play for them.”

Vanderwiel still out: Quarterback Luke Vanderwiel remained on crutches Saturday, rooting on his Prairie Ridge teammates from the sideline again.

Vanderwiel, who’s missed the Wolves’ past four games with a leg injury, also has played wide receiver and running back this season. Coach Mike Frericks said Vanderwiel has amassed about 1,300 all-purpose yards this season.

“He’s getting really close [to returning]. We’ll see how it all works out [this] week,” said Frericks, whose Wolves (8-2) visit No. 4 St. Francis (8-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Wheaton. “We’ll probably need a little spark offensively.”

Vanderwiel injured his leg in Week 6 against Dundee-Crown. When he was on the field, he showed an ability to consistently make big plays.

“He’s always bringing the energy and making crazy plays,” Finn said. “That just makes us happy and increases our game.”

Sophomore Owen Satterlee continues to fill in at quarterback. He’s brought his own style of physicality to the position.

Against Chicago Goode on Saturday, Satterlee took on a defender in a sprint to the pylon. While Satterlee was stopped at the 1 after a 15-yard gain, the defender was shaken up. Finn scored on the next play.

“He’s a big, strong kid,” Frericks said of Satterlee. “He runs hard. He’s a load. And he likes to hit. He wants to truck some people.”

Welcome to the varsity: Freshman call-up Vincent Byk got running-clock snaps at quarterback for Prairie Ridge during its 65-6 win over Chicago Goode on Saturday.

Byk ran five times for 43 yards in the second half, directing two scoring drives.

Thunder make history with first-round win: Woodstock North senior Dillon Gavers was hurting after Saturday’s 34-24 Class 5A first-round playoff win against Freeport – the program’s first postseason win since 2012 – but it was a good hurt.

“Man, am I going to be sore tomorrow,” the Thunder offensive/defensive lineman said with a smile as he walked gingerly into the locker room at Woodstock North High School to celebrate a historic win with coaches and teammates.

Saturday’s victory was the eighth of the season for the Thunder, the most in the program’s history. North’s previous high was seven in 2011 and 2012.

This year’s team won its first six games before losing to Richmond-Burton 35-0 and Sandwich 42-35 in Weeks 7 and 8. The Thunder ended the regular season with a hard-fought, 8-7 win over crosstown rival Woodstock.

No. 6-seeded Woodstock North (8-2) now gets its biggest test of the season when it travels to LaGrange Park for a second-round playoff game against defending state champion and No. 3 Nazareth (8-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

In North’s win over Freeport, Thunder junior FB David Randecker rumbled for 222 yards and three touchdowns on 30 carries, including breakaway touchdowns of 45 and 41 yards. Early on, Randecker provided some punishing blows to the Pretzels defense as North looked to set the tone in its first postseason game since 2018.

“This is awesome,” Randecker said, surrounded by family and friends after the win. “It’s all about the offseason work we put in and how hard we work in practice. There’s a hill at Glacial Park [in Ringwood] where we ran a lot this offseason. It’s a hard hill, I’ll say that, but it really preps us and it makes us able to pull out those big runs.”

Junior QB Parker Halihan, who added two rushing touchdowns against Freeport, said the Thunder weren’t just satisfied with making the playoffs. Now they’ll get to see how they stack up against a Nazareth team that has five state championships (three in 5A, one in 6A and one in 7A) since 2014.

“We get to see how we measure up against one of the best,” Halihan said of the program’s first second-round playoff game in 12 years. “See if we can set the bar high.”

• Northwest Herald sports editor Alex Kantecki contributed to this report.