Huntley falls in double overtime

HUNTLEY -- The fifth turnover put them in dire straits, the sixth sealed their fate.

The Huntley Red Raiders played loose with the football on Friday night and ended up paying for it in their 27-24 double-overtime loss to visiting Woodstock.

After limiting Woodstock to a field goal on their possession in double overtime, it finally appeared as though the Red Raiders (3-1) were going to finish off the pesky Blue Streaks (2-2).

But on the first play from the 10-yard line, the exchange between quarterback Tim Lycos and tailback Brett Kleckner fell to the grass and was immediately pounced on by Woodstock's Kevin Hunt to end the contest.

"Just a bad exchange," Kleckner said. "I might have went too far forward but I'm not going to blame anybody, it's a team effort."

Aside from losing the game in heartbreaking fashion, the game was also disappointing because the Red Raiders let a 16-0, first-half lead disappear and weren't able to capitalize on their dominate run game.

Huntley, ranked 10th in the Class 7A state poll, rushed for 427 yards on 57 carries, with 296 of those coming in the first half.

Ultimately, Huntley couldn't escape its own miscues, as the six turnovers, 90 penalty yards and inability to contain the deep ball from Woodstock proved to be too much to overcome.

"Turnovers, penalties and (the) deep pass – that's the three things in all of our games," Huntley coach Steve Graves said. "Defense plays outstanding, gives up the deep ball. Offensively, we moved the ball great at times but again you can't turn the ball over, you can't have crucial penalties."

The game opened promisingly, as Kleckner (22 carries, 173 rushing yards) took the second play from scrimmage 79 yards for a score 50 seconds into the contest. Marcus Popenfoose ran in for the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.

After a quick three-and-out by Woodstock, Huntley was back on the march, but in a sign of things to come, Lycos fumbled the exchange on Woodstock's 7-yard line and back to the Streaks.

Two fumbles by Kleckner and a pick thrown by Lycos kept the Red Raiders off the board until with 4:15 left in the first half, Lycos (23 carries, 168 rushing yards) ran it up the gut for a 60-yard TD run. A two-point conversion run from Brandon Luczak pushed the lead to 16.

Although it didn't seem critical at the time, a 39-yard field goal from Woodstock's Scott Rausch as time expired in the first half, helped push the game into overtime.

The Blue Streaks cut the lead to 16-9 four plays into the second half on a 48-yard TD pass from Mike Kremske to Rausch (5 catches, 182 receiving yards) after a reverse.

Woodstock carried that momentum into its next possession but a fumble recovery by Kleckner stopped the Blue Streaks in Huntley territory.

The Red Raiders took the ball inside Woodstock's red zone only to turn it over on a Lycos interception.

Two plays later, Kunzie (13-for-25, 267 passing yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) found Rausch for a 79-yard TD strike to tie the game at 16 with 9:41 left in regulation.

Once again, Huntley ran the ball into Woodstock territory, but Lycos (2-for-6, 6 passing yards, 2 INTs) threw his second pick with 4:09 left to help lead to overtime.

Popenfoose (8-39) scored on a 1-yard run to put Huntley back ahead 22-16 and an 8-yard run for the two-point conversion from Luczak put the pressure on Woodstock heading into its possession.

However, the Blue Streaks scored a TD on its first play and converted a two-point conversion to tie it at 24.

After holding Woodstock to a 29-yard Rausch field goal to start the second overtime, Huntley looked primed to win but its turnover misfortunes did it in.

"We felt like we were prepared for this game and we just kind of thought too much about it and didn't just play," Kleckner said. "We let our emotions get to us and didn't do what we had to do at the end."

After the game, Graves also pointed to the losses of three key players, including WR/K Tor Larkin.

Popenfoose also snagged an interception in the first half. Luczak ran for 47 yards on four carries.

Woodstock 27, Huntley 24 (2 OT)

WOODSTOCK   0  3  6  7  8  3  —  27

HUNTLEY           8  8  0  0  8  0  —  24

HUNTLEY — Kleckner 79 run (Popenfoose run), 11:10

HUNTLEY — Lycos 60 run (Luczak run), 4:15

WOODSTOCK — FG Rausch 39, :00

WOODSTOCK — Rausch 48 pass from Kremske (blocked kick), 10:19

WOODSTOCK — Rausch 79 pass from Kunzie (Rausch kick), 9:41

HUNTLEY — Popenfoose 1 run (Luczak run)

WOODSTOCK — Liedtke 10 run (Johnson pass from Kunzie)

WOODSTOCK — FG Rausch 29

Team statistics         WOOD       HUNT

First downs                    10               15

Comp.-att-int.             14-26-1       2-6-2

Passing yards                 315               6

Rushing-att-yds.           16-56         57-427

Total yards                     371             433

Fumbles-lost                   1-1             5-4

Penalties-yards              2-20            9-90

Individual statistics

Rushing:

WOODSTOCK — Smith 6-23, Liedtke 5-27, Walkington 4-4, Kunzie 1-2.

HUNTLEY — Kleckner 22-173, Lycos 23-168, Popenfoose 8-39, Luczak 4-47.

Passing:

WOODSTOCK — Kunzie 13-25-1 267, Kremske 1-1-0 48.

HUNTLEY — Lycos 2-6-2 6.

Receiving:

WOODSTOCK — Rausch 5-182, Kremske 5-89, Sutter 1-18, Liedtke 1-12, Salinas 1-12, Smith 1-2.

HUNTLEY – Alvarez 1-5, Gaston 1-1.