Cary-Grove runs wild vs. St. Charles North

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ST. CHARLES – As pretty as Marcus Kerrigan’s 51-yard field goal was and as important as it ended up being in Cary-Grove’s victory against St. Charles North, the Trojans looked most impressive on the ground.

The Trojans ran for 292 yards on the North Stars’ defense Friday, and they eked out a 24-21 win to spoil North’s Week 1 Senior Night.

“Oh, we’re going to run the ball,” C-G coach Bruce Kay said.

The Trojans (1-0) jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a 6-yard pass from Tyler Krebs to tight end John Bryan with 8:38 remaining in the first quarter after getting the ball on the North Stars’ 25 after a fumble on the third play of the game.

They added to their lead with Kerrigan’s career-long field goal with 9:06 left in the second quarter to cap a 15-play drive that killed more than 7 minutes.

“We were on the 34-yard line,” Kay said. “Punt it for 14? ... He’s got a heck of a leg, so I really didn’t feel like we were risking much. Yes, I have a lot of confidence in him.”

After the Trojans extended their lead to 17-0 with 4:50 remaining in the half on a 2-yard run by Eric Chandler (96 yards, 17 carries), it looked like the field goal would be an afterthought, but North’s offense came alive in the second half after its defense scored.

A play after Krebs left the game for good with leg cramps, backup Ryan Barker had a nightmare first snap, fumbling the exchange before recovering it, running for a yard and coughing it up again.

North defensive back Mitch Nemec scooped it up and went 41 yards for the score.

C-G got the touchdown back on a 48-yard run by Alex Hembrey (152 yards, 17 carries).

“On my touchdown, I was not touched once,” Hembrey said. “The holes were amazing.”

But Nick Neari and Jonathan DeMoss brought North (0-1) back. DeMoss completed a 12-play, 78-yard drive with a 6-yard score with 4:53 remaining in the third to bring the score to 24-14.

After a three-and-out on their first possession of the fourth, the North Stars marched 75 yards to get within three on a 12-yard pass from Neari to DeMoss. North’s surge came after managing only two first-half first downs.

North got the ball back with 1:51 to play on its own 22, but Neari’s pass on second-and-10 was picked off by Rob Mago to wrap things up.

Despite three turnovers, North coach Mark Gould went back to C-G’s first-half ground game when pointing fingers for the loss.

“They came at us and showed us what game speed was in that first half,” Gould said.