Prairie Ridge’s Tyler Vasey ties Class 6A playoff record with 392 rushing yards in wild win over Crystal Lake South

CRYSTAL LAKE – Crystal Lake South tried to play “keep away” from Prairie Ridge senior Tyler Vasey as best as it could.

The Gators even stopped kicking the ball short because the Wolves star would run up and catch those, too.

In the end, Vasey was uncatchable, unstoppable and unbelievable.

The Wolves electric quarterback ran for a game-high 392 yards and accounted for seven touchdowns as Prairie Ridge defeated Crystal Lake South 63-55 in their Class 6A first-round playoff game on Saturday.

Prairie Ridge will host Kaneland in the second round at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5.

Vasey’s 392 rushing yards tied the Class 6A single-game record in the playoffs, and he also set the Northwest Herald area’s single-season rushing record, which now stands at 2,835 yards and counting.

He added 51 yards and a touchdown through the air to his special day.

“He’s a special player. What else can you say?” South coach Rob Fontana said. “The game plan can be to stop him, but for whatever reason he finds a hole, he breaks a tackle and he goes for 70 yards. He does things that you don’t see very often in a high school game.”

Vasey now has three consecutive 300-yard performances as he closes in on 3,000 yards. Three of his touchdown runs against South – a 74-, 56- and 44-yarder – came on the first play of a drive, while a 70-yard score came on the second play.

Vasey lauded the play of his offensive line – Fernando Rodriguez, Ethan Goudschaal, Walter Pollack, John Fallaw and Henrik Nystrom – for creating space that “anyone could run through.”

Wolves coach Chris Schremp is still amazed by some of the things his quarterback can do.

“Just when you think he had the best game he possibly could, he does more,” Schremp said. “His running today was crazy. It completely dominated the game. It was almost like, ‘Tyler, you’re scoring too fast. We’ve got to give our defense a break.’ ”

Vasey had a hand in the last six touchdowns for the Wolves (9-1), but it was a standout defensive play by senior Logan Harlow that put the Wolves (9-1) in a position to finally create some space and breathing room on a wild day of offense.

After Vasey scored on a 2-yard rush to tie the game at 49 at the start of the fourth quarter, Harlow intercepted Gators quarterback Caden Casimino (22-of-26 passing, 325 yards) to stop a potential scoring drive for South.

Vasey then added a 56-yard TD run on the first play of the ensuing drive to give Prairie Ridge a 56-49 lead with 8:25 left. Prairie Ridge’s defense then stopped South on a fourth-and-1 play to get the ball back and Vasey added a 44-yard score to go up 63-49.

Wolves fullback Nathan Greetham finished with 90 yards on 19 carries, along with two touchdowns. Drake Tomasiewicz caught a 39-yard touchdown from Vasey.

For South (5-5), Nate Van Witzenburg ran for 213 yards and two touchdowns on 25 attempts. Michael Prokos (six catches, 82 yards), Brady Schroeder (four catches, 106 yards) and Colton Hess (five catches, 77 yards) all had touchdown catches.

Casimino had five total touchdowns (three passing, two running) and 384 total yards.

Schremp said he didn’t want to face South in the first round after playing them in Week 8 – a close 48-41 victory for the Wolves.

“They’ve got unbelievable athletes,” Schremp said of South. “They’ve just got talent all over the field. I would have taken any other team [to play] in the North [side of the playoff bracket]. We knew how talented they were. And I think they felt the same way about us.”

Fontana thanked his senior class for a memorable year.

“They had to battle through some stuff and they kind of set the tone on where we wanted to go as a program,” Fontana said. “These seniors motivated the guys under them ... and they really brought us back to where we needed to be. This was an unbelievable group of kids.”

Prokos, a junior, thinks the Gators can come back and be in a similar position next year.

“We can score, and we proved that we can play with anybody,” Prokos said. “It’s going to be motivation for next year.”

Prairie Ridge 63, Crystal Lake South 55

CL South 7 20 21 7 – 55

Prairie Ridge 7 28 7 21 – 63

First quarter

PR-Greetham 4 run (Amherdt kick), 7:13

CLS-Casimino 1 run (Hess kick), 2:26

Second quarter

CLS-Van Witzenburg 6 run (Hess kick), 11:30

PR-Vasey 74 run (Amherdt kick), 11:16

CLS-Prokos 14 pass from Casimino (kick blocked), 10:05

PR-Greetham 4 run (Amherdt kick), 6:10

PR-Vasey 16 run (Amherdt kick), 3:34

CLS-Casimino 11 run (Dougherty pass from Casimino), 0:45

PR-Tomasievich 39 pass from Vasey (Amherdt kick), 0:03

Third quarter

CLS-Hess 18 pass from Casimino (Hess kick), 9:29

CLS-Van Witzenburg 1 run (Hess kick), 8:10

PR-Vasey 70 run (Amherdt kick), 7:18

CLS-Van Witzenburg 1 run (Hess kick), 3:59

Fourth quarter

PR-Vasey 2 run (Amherdt kick), 11:56

PR-Vasey 56 run (Amherdt kick), 8:25

PR-Vasey 44 run (Amherdt kick), 5:46

CLS-Schroeder 13 pass from Casimino (kick blocked), 3:40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–CL South: Van Witzenburg 25-213, Casimino 13-59, Team 4-minus 31. Totals: 42-241. Prairie Ridge: Vasey 24-392, Greetham 19-90, Creatore 1-5, Team 1-minus 12. Totals: 45-475.

PASSING–CL South: Casimino 22-26-1-325. Prairie Ridge: Vasey 2-2-0-51.

RECEIVING–CL South: Prokos 6-82, Witzenburg 6-57, Hess 5-77, Schroeder 4-106, Dougherty 1-3. Prairie Ridge: Tomasiewicz 1-39, L. Vanderwiel 1-12.

TOTAL YARDS: CL South 566, Prairie Ridge 526.