The way the Trojans have done things all season long was obvious. Run the football, and score quickly. Push back opposing offenses, and make them fight for every single yard. 

The defense stayed as its usual self on Saturday against Lake Forest, holding the Scouts to only seven points and making some huge plays in the process, including their fourth-down stop on the very first drive of the game. 

“(They) played great,” Head Coach Brad Seaburg said. 

The offense, however, had to change their usual quick-strike gameplan into one that was out of the ordinary for them. 

Cary-Grove developed drives that lasted about the average Marvel movie run-time, and it worked out well. They were able to sustain long drives the whole afternoon, even with the temptation to flip the switch back to normal later on. 

Although it seemed like the Trojans were running a one-play-selection, Madden-style offense, Lake Forest still couldn’t stop the always-dominant Cary-Grove rushing attack. 

“We were able to hammer out yards [the whole game], and Nick had some [great runs],” Coach Seaburg said. 

This is a great assessment of the running game on Saturday, as the Trojans had drives that took north of five plays, whereas that number is down between one and three on usual days at the office. 

These long drives were able to drain Lake Forest’s stamina, and help Cary-Grove keep their foot on the gas until the outcome was known. 

As the clock kept ticking down closer to triple zeros, everyone started to realize the reality. The players and coaches embraced, knowing their goal of reaching state had been accomplished. 

The cheers from the Trojan faithful at Al Bohrer Field were loud and proud, all knowing their team just has to win one final game to clinch their third state title in 12 years. 

After all of the COVID stoppage in play, Coach Seaburg is happy that his players will compete for a state championship, after all of the uncertainty they went through in the past two years. 

“It’s great for [the] kids,” he said. 

Winning the state championship won’t be easy, as the Flyers from East St. Louis have one of the top three wide receivers in Illinois in Luther Burden III. Coach Seaburg has a pretty simple answer of how to prepare and contain him. 

“We will look at the film [and see what we have to do],” Coach said. 

Northern Illinois’s Huskie Stadium in DeKalb is the site for the class 6A state championship this season. It’s new territory for Coach Seaburg and his bunch, as CG has only played championship games in Champaign recently, but rest assured that the CG faithful will find their way in droves to the closer location.

Well, Cary-Grove Trojans fans. This next game will end the 2021 season for football here, but don’t be discouraged.

The boys in white and blue could very well bring some hardware back to CG.