Crystal Lake Central rolls past Hampshire

Updated: October 21, 2011 10:34PM

Crystal Lake Central outmatched Hampshire, 55-6, in Fox Valley Fox conference play on Friday night in Crystal Lake. Darwin Stone scored three and gained 84 yards on nine carries to lead the Tigers.

“With this win, we share part of the conference, which was one of our goals this year,” said Tiger head coach Matt Fralick. “It was a good team victory. The defense played well and the offense got contributions from a lot of different players.”

The Tigers (5-1, 6-3) gained a combined 259 yards on the ground from Stone, Matt MacAlpine (96 yards on 13 carries), Steven Rios (48 yards on 7 carries), and Austin Baron (31 yards on 7 carries). Quarterback Steve Lawless was 1-for-3 for 40 yards. Special teams recovered two fumbles that led to touchdowns.

The Tigers scored first on a 40 yard pass play from Steve Lawless (1 for 3 and 40 yards) to Stone with less than three minutes into the game to make it 7-0. The Whip-Purs (1-5, 1-8) came right back on its first possession with Chase Lundry (127 yards on 13 carries) scoring on 5 yard run to keep it close at 7-6. Stone closed out the first quarter with his second touchdown on a 16-yard run maintain the Tigers lead, 13-6.

“I wanted a victory for my last game,” said Lundry, a senior. “I’m disappointed because I know we could have done better. We had better games.”

It was all Tigers for the remainder of the game. MacAlpine ran for 20 yards and a touchdown to put the Tigers in the lead, 20-6. Anders Fruend recovered a Whip-Purs fumble on the Tigers kickoff at the Whip-Purs 29-yard line with Baron completing the 29-yard drive with a 2-yard run for a touchdown to end the half with the Tigers in full command at the half, 28-6.

“Our special teams were outstanding,” said Fralick. “It’s probably the best game they played all year.”

Stone picked up his third touchdown of the game on a 16-yard run to open the third quarter. Nick Marchetti ran back a Whip-Purs punt for 70 yards and a touchdown. Isaiah Mosher grabbed another Whip-Purs fumble at the Tigers 19-yard line with Rios finish the return drive with a 1-yard run to put the game away at 49-6 after three quarters of play.

Mosher closed out the scoring with a 56-yard run in the fourth quarter.

“This put us in the playoffs,” said MacAlpine. “Our defense plays well every game. We got momentum going into the playoffs. It doesn’t matter who we play. If we play our game we know we can beat anyone.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.