Gators stop Red Raiders

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HUNTLEY – Renato Albuquerque had paid attention.

The Crystal Lake South freshman forward knew Huntley’s boys soccer team would enter Thursday’s match against the Gators with as much confidence as South would bring to the field. Huntley took down Dundee-Crown on Tuesday; South had defeated Prairie Ridge.

In a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division race with no room for error, a single win is cause for celebration.

Albuquerque set out Thursday to make sure the Gators could continue to carouse.

Albuquerque had a hand in all three of South’s goals in a 3-0 victory against the Red Raiders that gave the Gators a half-game lead in the seven-team FVC Valley race. South is 2-0 in division play and the only Valley Division team that has played two division games. McHenry is second with a 1-0 record.

“We were 1-0 [with the win] against Prairie Ridge (on Tuesday) and I think we had confidence, momentum and we kept going for it,” Albuquerque said.

Albuquerque helped the Gators (10-5 overall) get on the board early in the first half when he was fouled inside the penalty area on a breakaway. Senior forward Charlie Oliver converted the penalty kick to make it 1-0 Gators in the 14th minute of the match.

Albuquerque found his older brother, senior midfielder Roberto, late in the second half to get the security goal. He hit Roberto in stride near the left post and Roberto bent the ball just inside the right post to make it 2-0 in the 67th minute.

“It was great, always fun to have a little brotherly love,” Roberto Albuquerque said.

The third goal came a minute later when Renato Albuquerque got a foot on a rebound and flicked it into the net to make it 3-0.

“They grinded out the first half, I don’t think either team really played their best in the first half. It was kind of sluggish,” South coach Brian Allen said. “We made some good adjustments and we were able to capitalize with a couple nice combination plays.”

Huntley coach Kris Grabner thought his players looked a little tired throughout. His defense took a hit, too, when senior defender Aleks Rys left the game with a stomach ache.

“[South] won every 50-50 ball the whole game and ... we didn’t have the legs,” Grabner said. “I thought we shut down Oliver well, but our defense was sloppy and our midfielders didn’t move enough. It’s a lot of games in a short amount of time, but we have to be prepared for games like this and we just weren’t.”

• Follow Maureen Lynch on Twitter @nwh_molynch.