History-making Huntley back in playoffs

It wasn't pretty, but Huntley managed to make program history this fall.

The Red Raiders overcame some key injuries and a serious rough patch in the middle of the season to return to the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Huntley needed victories in its final two games to finish the regular season 5-4, which was good enough to earn an at-large bid into the Class 6A playoffs.

"This is the first time in Huntley school history that we've gone to the playoffs back to back and only the third time we've been in the playoffs overall," senior linebacker/tackle Kevin Doran said. "It's cool that we get to do it two years in a row. It's nice that we've got some momentum after winning the last two."

Next up for Huntley is a meeting with Marmion at 7 p.m. on Friday. In a change of venue, the game will be played at Aurora Christian to take advantage of that school's synthetic playing surface.

Hopes were high for the Raiders entering the 2009 campaign with several key players back in the fold from last year's 9-2 team that ended the school's seven-year playoff drought.

Injuries to senior quarterback Brandon Luczak and senior defensive back Joe Muren were among a number of absences that slowed Huntley after a quick start this year. The Raiders won their first three games, but saw that momentum halted with four straight losses, including back-to-back scoreless efforts against state-ranked Cary-Grove and Crystal Lake South.

"We definitely faced the hardest teams on our schedule in the middle of the year," Doran said. "We got into a rut and couldn't get out of it."

The Raiders finally broke out of the slump with victories against Dundee-Crown and Jacobs the past two weeks. Although both of those opponents struggled this year, the confidence that came with the wins was welcome.

Senior running back Brett Kleckner ran for over 130 yards in both triumphs as Huntley's offense regained its early season form. The Raiders defense also picked up the slack, limiting the Golden Eagles to only 128 total yards.

The test gets much tougher this week against Marmion, which finished 8-1 and claimed the Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division title.

The Cadets boast a powerful ground attack that could pose big problems for Huntley.

"Marmion has a very good mixture of some big kids along with some good speed," fifth-year Huntley coach Steve Graves said. "With that speed they have, our defense will have try to take away their explosion plays because they are bound to have several of them with their talented running backs."