Looking Back At Week 3 of the Prep Football Season

We are now at the 1/3 point of the 2011 prep football season, here’s my take on the events of Week 3….

Jacobs: The Golden Eagles finally put a full game together in pounding Grayslake North 62-21 to improve to 3-0 on the year. The first two weeks running backs Caz Zyks and Kyle Wright exchanged the lead role in rushing but Friday night, the two shared the lead with Zyks scoring twice while running for over 170 yards. Wright added three touchdowns of his own and ran for nearly 100 yards. It is becoming very obvious that this team is going to be hard to stop with Zyks and Wright in the backfield and with quarterback Jason Judson also playing well, a deep playoff run has a serious potential of happening.

Next week, Jacobs travels to McHenry where the Warriors have already passed their win total from a year ago. McHenry’s offensive philosophy is similar to Johnsburg’s, a lot of passing the football but with one major difference, the Warriors have more talent than the Skyhawks did. If the Golden Eagles defense can continue their strong play, I would expect Jacobs to be 4-0 after Week 4.

Dundee-Crown: The Chargers fell to 0-3 with a 33-14 loss to McHenry in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division play on Friday night. D-C did have a lead in this game at 14-6 in the second quarter after a fumble recovery for a touchdown and a Cody Lane touchdown run but the defense couldn’t hold the lead as the Chargers lost their 20^th straight game. The major problem so far is too many points given up by D-C as opponents have scored 107 points in three games.

That situation won’t be helped by next week’s opponent in Prairie Ridge, who is 3-0 while scoring 145 points in their first three games and has given up four points in their last two games on two safeties. D-C managed just 137 yards of offense as well Friday against the Warriors and will need a superior effort to stay close with the Wolves. This season is starting to look a lot of the previous five in Carpentersville.

Huntley: The Red Raiders saw their record drop to 0-3 during a 43-2 loss to Prairie Ridge in each team’s FVC Valley Division opener. Jake Brock took to the air more, throwing 20 times and hooking up with Johnny Walker on five occasions. Huntley also played without starting running back Ethan Connor in dropping their third straight. Crystal Lake South is on the schedule this coming week, the Gators are coming off a 10-7 win at Cary-Grove on a last-second field goal and have allowed just 13 points in starting the year 3-0. You can only hope that next week isn’t a carbon copy of this week, while it appears it just might be.

The FVC Valley this season is loaded with Jacobs, CL South and Prairie Ridge all at 3-0 and Cary-Grove at 2-1. Last year, Huntley finished 4-5 and with a 0-3 start already and games still remaining with Jacobs, Crystal Lake South and Cary-Grove, finding a victory isn’t the easiest task. Huntley and Dundee-Crown will play each other in Week 5 on Sept. 23 and it could be each team’s only chance to get a win.