Time and time again Friday night, the Trojans were bent. Their defense struggled to get stops for most of the game against Crystal Lake Central, and CG’s offense only had three scoring drives in between many failed attempts.
The Tigers offense was able to sustain long, strong drives for most of their possessions, and they looked destined to put week two in the win column for them.
When the clock struck triple zeros, however, the narrative that presented itself was that, despite all that bending, the Trojans never broke.
In the first quarter, leading 7-0, Peyton Seaburg threw a ball up for grabs and it was picked off, and the Tigers took over from CG’s 47. Cary-Grove came up with their first fourth-down stop of the day to halt that ensuing drive.
Toward the end of the first half, CLC’s squad took the football all the way down inside the CG 35-yard line, and they looked like they were going to take a 14-10 lead to the locker room.
However, Jack Rocen, who had a huge week last game with his punt return touchdown, came up with an interception in the endzone to keep a 10-7 advantage going for Cary-Grove.
The Trojans got the ball first to start quarter three, but they were forced to punt. The Tigers offense once more had a solid drive deep inside Trojan territory, and Crystal Lake Central made the decision to go for it on fourth down.
A pass to the end zone was broken up by P.J. Weaver, and the Trojans took over.
Their next possession ended the third quarter and began the fourth, as Seaburg scrambled to his right on a fourth down and fired a strong pass to Luca Vivadelli in the end zone to give CG a 17-7 lead.
“I was reading one of the defenders there,” Seaburg said. “I could’ve run it, I could’ve thrown it. I just saw an open window to Luca.”
With this touchdown, the Trojans showed that they have different ways to score and keep defenses guessing, as Logan Abrams, Andrew Prio and Seaburg led the way with the O.
“It makes us more of a threat to defenses. We’ve got a bunch of guys that can run the ball and make plays out there,” Seaburg said of the offense.
The very next drive the Tigers offense once again was able to move the ball inside Trojans territory, and this time they scored to put the game within single digits at 17-14.
Even more jubilation for CLC came about moments later, as the Tigers recovered an onside kick to give themselves one last opportunity to steal Friday night’s battle.
Quarterback Jason Penza was able to lead his offense once more inside Cary-Grove territory, as the Tigers got the ball down to the Trojans 25.
The Trojans defense then forced another fourth-down attempt with 36.7 seconds to go, and Penza had to roll to his left before he tossed an incomplete pass, giving the Trojans the week two victory.
“Defense played great. We were hitting them well, and just made some great plays,” Coach Seaburg said.
One of the big reasons the Trojans won was senior running back Prio’s performance, as he carried the ball to over 70 yards in the first half and scored a touchdown to give CG their first of two on the night.
“He’s a (really) elusive player. He’s deceivingly very physical, too. He made some really tough runs for us tonight,” Coach Seaburg said.
After this thrilling win to give the Trojans a 2-0 start, Coach Seaburg looks to keep improving in all areas to sustain this strong beginning.
“We just want to keep getting better at each individual position, and just hope that we can keep having some good practices and do what it takes to be a championship-caliber team.”