Huntley football coach Steve Graves will be the first one to tell you his team hasn't met much resistance on its way to a 6-0 start.
Sure the Red Raiders have outscored their opponents 229-47, but those opponents own a combined record of 6-30 this season.
The task is about to get much tougher as Huntley prepares to take on Crystal Lake Central (5-1) this week and Prairie Ridge (4-2) in Week 8. Those two games will likely decide the Fox Valley Conference Fox Division title while a Week 9 meeting with Johnsburg will serve as a final tune-up for Huntley before it makes its second playoff appearance in school history in four weeks.
"We're just trying to add a game somewhere in the last three weeks to try to get off six wins and up to seven," Graves said. "That's our focus right now and we know all three opponents will be a lot tougher than anyone we've faced. The kids are looking forward to the challenge though. We don't talk about anything other than getting another win tacked on and we're trying like heck to get that done."
A win this week and the Raiders will match the school's best-ever start set by the 2001 team that remains the school's standard bearer after finishing 10-3 under former coach Mike Slattery.
This year's Raiders are getting the job done with a punishing ground attack and a relentless defense. Huntley is averaging 370.7 rushing yards per game and a staggering 8.4 yards per rushing attempt. On the other side of the ball, the Raiders have allowed only one touchdown in the past 14 quarters.
If Huntley can just come close to matching that level of dominance the next two weeks, Graves might be looking at the realistic possibility of a perfect 9-0 regular season.
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