You could tell from the first half of CG vs. Libertyville that the Trojans were going to cruise to a win, and it’s not just my opinion.
Even though Libertyville moved the ball three times into Cary-Grove territory in the first half with Oklahoma State catcher commit Quinn Schambow leading the charge at QB, CG’s defense held and stopped the Wildcats’ offense all three times on fourth down. One of those fourth down stops came after a fake punt that was unsuccessful for CG, placing Libertyville’s offense at the 16. The Trojans didn’t break. On another drive, the Trojans picked off a Schambow pass, leading to a 21-0 advantage and eventual 28-0 halftime margin.
“It was great,” Coach Brad Seaburg said. “I think the team feeds off of that. [The] defense did a great job hitting and getting the ball back for the offense.”
Speaking of that offense, the Trojans scored 14 points in each of the first two quarters en route to that 28-0 lead, with a Peyton Seaburg touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jake Hornok starting things off. In the second half, CG scored 21 more to take round one by a final of 49-6.
“[The] defense got some stops, [the] offense got some scores, and [we] were able to get some of the tough yards and also get some of the long runs,” Coach Seaburg said.
When we look at the data behind another efficient offensive performance for CG, senior running back Andrew Prio hit paydirt for another week from a short distance. Also, sophomore fullback Logan Abrams scored four times with all of those also coming from a short distance, which provides immense support behind Coach Seaburg’s prior statements about those “tough yards.”
The two other touchdowns came from the opening score, Peyton Seaburg to Jake Hornok, as well as a touchdown run from 12 yards away by junior backup QB Michael Dunkin taking it in with the game well in the Trojans’ favor.
CG played a very complete and clean game on Friday night, and the Trojans’ defense upped the ante in this first round. Cary-Grove will next battle the Mather Rangers… wait, nope! Sorry about that (shouldn’t have relied on MaxPreps for the score report). It’s actually the Highland Park Giants in the second round, at HP’s home field on Saturday. Game time is 2:00 PM. The Trojans would reach the quarterfinals and extend their 2023 season into mid-November with a win this weekend.