Maroons remain winless

CRYSTAL LAKE – For one half of football on Friday night at Owen Metcalf Field, it appeared Elgin High was ready to secure its first win of the season on the road against Crystal Lake Central.

But the other shoe dropped hard on the Maroons in the second half, as the Tigers ran away with a 28-14 victory.

With the score tied at 7 in the second quarter, the Tigers' Gage Harrah gave Central a lead when he found the end zone from 16 yards out. The extra point was blocked by Cory Michalik, limiting the deficit to 13-7.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jordan Dean, who had scored earlier on a 5-yard run, fielded the ball at the 26, stutter-stepped past the Tigers' first wave and motored his way into the end zone for a 74-yard score to give Elgin (0-3) a 14-13 lead going into the half.

In the second half, the Tigers' relentless running attack finally got the better of a beleaguered Maroons' defense.

Two long runs by Central's Adam Smyth allowed the Tigers (2-1) to leapfrog Elgin in the second half. Smyth scored from 55 yards out with 2:55 left in the third quarter, followed by a Harrah run for the two-point conversion to put the Tigers in front 21-14.

Smyth found paydirt again with 8:31 left in the game on the first play following an Elgin punt, this time from 67 yards out.

Smyth was positively prolific against the Maroons, racking up 235 yards on 18 carries with three touchdowns. Harrah added 154 yard on 16 tries. The Tigers, who only attempted one pass all night (it was incomplete), ended with 504 yards on the ground.

"It's just execution of assignments," Elgin coach Dave Bierman said. "They do a good job running their offense and when we don't execute our responsibility, you see what happens."

Even after Smyth's third touchdown of the night, the Maroons still had chances to get back in the game.

Trailing 28-14 with 5:38 left in the game, Elgin recovered a fumble on the Tigers' 25-yard line. But the Maroons turned the ball right back over when quarterback Jake Meyer threw an interception on the very next play as he tried to hit Alan Walker in the corner of the end zone.

On the ensuing possession, the Tigers fumbled the ball away once again, giving Elgin possession at Central's 30-yard line. But Meyer again threw an interception two plays later to extinguish Elgin's hopes of a comeback.

"We have to capitalize on that," Bierman said. "Offensively, we were able to move the ball a little bit, but seven points offensively is not enough to win and with their offense you're not going to get many opportunities to score since the nature of their game is to sort of play keep-away."

Dean was the difference maker for the Maroons in the first half, tallying 72 yards on 18 carries, but finished his night with just 83 yards on the ground and one 28-yard reception.

The Maroons could not win the trench battles in the second half. On defense, the front line was repeatedly pushed off the ball, allowing the Tigers to find running lanes and dictate the flow of the game. When they did get the ball, the Maroons got no push from the offensive linemen and simply couldn't sustain a drive.

When Elgin was behind by two scores and struggling to run, it made life tough on Meyer, who finished the night 3-for-17 passing for 59 yards with two interceptions.

Elgin also did not help itself with 12 penalties totaling 115 yards on the night.

"There's always a fundamental breakdown one way or the other," Bierman said. "It's just a matter of correcting those fundamental mistakes. Our kids are hard workers and they battled tonight, no question about it."

CRYSTAL LAKE CENTRAL 28, ELGIN 14

Elgin                            0   14   0   0  —   14

Crystal Lake Central    7    6    8   7  —   28

CLC — Smyth 21 run (Fehring kick), 7:58

ELGIN — Dean 5 run (Satish kick), 11:34

CLC — Harrah 16 run (kick failed), 7:04

ELGIN — Dean 74 kickoff return (Satish kick), 6:50

CLC — Smyth 55 run (Harrah run), 2:55

CLC — Smyth 67 run (Fehring kick), 8:31

Team statistics                 ELGIN            CLC

First downs                           13                    24

Comp.-att-int.                    3-17-2              0-1-0

Passing yards                        59                      0

Rushing-att-yds.                33-126             58-504

Total yards                          185                    504

Fumbles-lost                        1-1                    6-3

Penalties-yards                 12-115                 5-30

Individual statistics

Rushing:

ELGIN — Dean 24-83, McKenzie 7-38, Michalik 2-5.

CLC — Smyth 18-235, Harrah 16-154, McKinney 13-83, Hines 7-24, Schuld 4-8.

Passing:

ELGIN — Meyer 3-17-2, 59.

CLC — Schuld 0-1-0, 0.

Receiving:

ELGIN — Walker 1-3, Baymon 1-38, Dean 1-28.

CLC – None.