There was a show of power on both sides of St. Charles on Friday night.
While St. Charles East was cruising past South Elgin 42-3 on the east side of the Fox River, St. Charles North was busy pounding Larkin 41-0 across town.
The Saints were paced by another stellar effort from senior running back Wes Allen, who racked up 196 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries. That's a slow night for Allen, who ran for 200-plus yards and six touchdowns in each of East's past two games.
North also got a strong game from its running back Jordan Huxtable. The junior scored three touchdowns for the second straight week, but the story of the game was the North Stars defense. Larkin had only one play go more than three yards in the first half, and that came when junior Jalen Williams took off for a 31-yard gain on the last play before the intermission.
The first-half totals were downright ugly as you'll see below.
Score: North 41-0.
Total Yards: North 390-16.
First downs: North 16, Larkin 1.
That onslaught resulted in a running clock in the second half, which took roughly 30 real-time minutes to complete. The Royals appeared poised to score on their first drive of the third quarter, but the 15-play possession ended in familiar fashion when quarterback Justin Kalusa threw his fourth interception of the game, this one coming in the red zone.
The slaughters in St. Charles set the stage for the annual grudge match between the Saints and North Stars next Friday night at North. There's never much love lost between these teams, who have split their eight all-time meetings. Both teams own 5-2 records, so the winner of next week's contest will not only have bragging rights, but it will also punch its ticket to the postseason.
Elsewhere Friday night, Bartlett needed a late rally to keep its perfect season alive. The victory clinched at least a share of the Upstate Eight Conference title, and the Hawks can claim it outright with a win against East Aurora in Week 9. But first Bartlett will try to take care of business against Thornton in a non-conference game next Saturday at Millennium Field. That could be a showdown between a pair of 7-0 teams if the Wildcats beat Thornton Fractional South today to stay unbeaten.
Other conference title hopefuls Huntley and Genoa-Kingston had varying results. Behind a big game from Jordan Neukirch, the Red Raiders kept alive their hopes of winning the Fox Valley Conference Fox Division with a big win against Crystal Lake Central. That sets up a huge tilt against Prairie Ridge next week that will in all likelihood decide the league champ. Meanwhile, the Cogs suffered a big setback in their quest for the Big Northern Conference West Division title as two-time defending league champ Oregon came into G-K and waltzed to a 35-20 triumph.
Hampshire moved a step closer to the BNC East crown and a playoff berth by improving to 4-3 overall with an easy win against North Boone. Meanwhile, the playoff hopes for Larkin, Dundee-Crown and St. Edward all took major hits as all three teams slipped to 3-4 and will need minor miracles to reach the postseason now given their remaining schedules.
Now it's time to give out our weekly awards.
MOST IMPRESSIVE WIN
I've got to give a little love to the Elgin Maroons here. It's been a rough year on Elgin's east side, but the Maroons showed a good deal of pride in their 47-13 trouncing of East Aurora. Make it 12 straight wins for Elgin against the Tomcats. The Maroons were off to their first 0-6 start since 1981, but like the '81 team, Elgin found a way to pull out a victory in Week 7. What better time for the Maroons to hit their stride? They've got Larkin up next in the Town Jug game next Saturday. Elgin will be looking to snap a six game losing streak against its crosstown rival.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
I can't say there were too many total shockers on the board tonight. I sort of figured Neuqua would play Bartlett tough, and most of the other scores went relatively according to what I thought would happen.
The only pick I missed came in the G-K game, so guess I'll call that the surprise of the week. I'm not surprised the Cogs lost considering how well Oregon is playing this year. The biggest surprise for me is probably that G-K couldn't put up more of a fight. The Cogs trailed 21-6 at halftime and never really challenged the rest of the way.
I don't think this is so much an indictment of G-K as it is a sign of just how good Oregon is this season. We'll have another chance to see what the Cogs are made of next week when they travel to take on undefeated Stillman Valley.
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