Trojans cruise past Raiders

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HUNTLEY – For a brief moment Friday night during a brisk first quarter at Huntley, the Red Raiders football team felt it had a chance to keep pace with Cary-Grove.

After holding the Trojans to a single-touchdown advantage, Huntley’s confidence seemed to be on the rise.

A few mistakes later, deep into the second quarter, those hopes had vanished.

The Raiders fumbled away two consecutive possessions late in the second quarter, and C-G converted both to take a 31-point lead en route to a 37-7 victory over Huntley in Fox Valley Conference crossover action.

Huntley saved itself the shutout by scoring late in the fourth.

“They were the superior team,” Huntley coach Steve Graves said. “Every drive we had was going to have to be perfect. It couldn’t just be good.”

The one thing Huntley executed almost according to game plan was its defensive strategy. Since the Trojans’ running game is strong, the Raiders tried to force the pass.

The strategy only showed that C-G quarterback A. J. Hoger’s passing ability is solid, as his execution of the Trojans’ offense.

Hoger passed for 135 yards, including two touchdowns. It was the first time all season he’d been asked to throw so much, coach Bruce Kay said. Hoger rose to the occasion.

“A.J. had a great game,” Kay said. “His location was really on and his ability to read the coverage was really strong.

“I think our passing has improved every single game. That first game we didn’t complete a pass.”

Hoger also rushed for 73 yards on 10 carries en route to the Trojans’ 246 total rushing yards.

Hoger connected on a pair of touchdown passes, on to Matt Nelsen for 20 yards and another to Dan McCall for 24 yards.

C-G sophomore Eric Chandler rushed for 68 yards on 18 carries.

The Trojans executed 41 plays in the first half, scoring on all but two of their drives.

Nelsen also picked off Huntley quarterback Casey Popenfoose twice, while teammate Jake Underwood intercepted another of Popenfoose’s misguided throws.

“We can’t go down too much from here,” Graves said.

“We didn’t have to look too far to see what we have to work on, either.”

Huntley’s Austin Drougas punched in a 3-yard touchdown with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game to avoid the shutout.

“I think after losing to [Prairie Ridge in the second game of the season] we are re-focused,” C-G running back Andrew Schuh said.