Royals put on aerial show

STREAMWOOD -- Air Royale was cleared for takeoff and flying high again at Millennium Field on Friday night.

Cam Kinley threw for five more touchdowns to lead Larkin to a 40-7 Upstate Eight Conference rout of Streamwood.

Brian Shriver and Nick Bee each caught a pair of TD passes for Larkin (3-3, 3-1), while Jake Kane had the other.

Kinley now has 26 TD passes on the season, which is just four short of the Royals' record with three regular-season games still to play.

"At the start of the season, I knew we had some talented kids on offense," said Larkin coach Dave Bierman. "But we didn't set out to be this type of passing team. We thought we would be a little more balanced.

"It's just evolved into a potent passing attack and the kids have everything to do with that. When you have someone at quarterback like Cam, and the receivers that we have, you have to play to that strength. You'd be crazy not to."

Like they've done all season, the Royals' offense continued to have a lot of fun, this time at the expense of the Sabres' defense. Kinley completed 11 of 18 passes for 274 yards and no interceptions.

"It's obviously a lot of fun as a quarterback to be in this type of offense," Kinley said. "The line is blocking great, my receivers do a great job of getting open and my coaches are letting me throw the ball.

"We have a lot of confidence right now. We feel like we can score every time we go on the field."

Shriver caught five passes for 128 yards, including his two TDs of 25 yards each in the first half.

"It's definitely been a lot of fun," said Shriver, who now has nine TD catches. "Who doesn't love scoring touchdowns?

"I knew we'd be able to score points this year, but I had no clue we'd be putting up these kind of numbers."

Bee had three receptions for 123 yards, including first-half scores of 55 and 33 yards. Both scores came on short passes that Bee turned into long plays.

"We knew our offense was going to be the strength of our team," Bee said. "But to be able to put up 40-plus points every week has been something else.

"But the numbers don't really matter as long as we're winning. That's what matters most."

Dillon Smith added a 12-yard Royal TD run in the first half as Larkin led 34-0 at the break.

Kinley then connected with Kane on a 24-yard TD pass to open the second half and give Larkin a running clock.

The Royals' much-maligned defense, which was giving up 49 points a game coming into the contest, turned in its best performance of the season. The Royals held Streamwood to 124 yards of offense.

Sabres QB Gabe Roman was sacked four times, three by Brandon Cook. Kane also caught one of Roman's passes, an interception in the first half.

Streamwood's homecoming crowd had little to cheer about. The Sabres (1-5, 1-3) had a drive at the end of the first half halted at the 1-yard line and Roman was stopped after a 19-yard run on the final play of the half.

The Sabres finally broke through when Daniel Poierier scored on an 11-yard run with 6:15 left in the game.

"We knew if we were going to have any chance of stopping them, we had to keep the ball in front of us and tackle," said Streamwood coach Cal Cummins. "We couldn't do either. They pretty much did what they've been doing to everybody else.

"They really have the total package on offense."