Crystal Lake Central runs shutout streak to 10 quarters

McHENRY – Crystal Lake Central is going for shutouts instead of shootouts this year.

The Tigers’ defense extended their run of scoreless quarters to 10 and their Fox Valley Conference winning streak to four games as they beat McHenry 42-0 Friday night at McCracken Field. A defense allowing only 12 points a game is giving quarterback Jason Penza and his multitude of weapons plenty of opportunities to continue sprinting into the end zone.

“We’ve got some absolute dogs on defense,” Penza said after completing 16-of-23 passes for 250 yards and five first-half touchdowns. “I threw an interception [to Joseph Pineda in the first quarter] and they get it right back to me two plays later [Carter Kelley interception]. Having a defense like that is absolutely crucial.”

Kelley’s interception set up the first of two touchdown passes from Penza to Drake Tomasiewicz (4 catches, 53 yards) from 13 yards. The Tigers (4-2, 4-2) didn’t allow a first down in the next three possessions and Penza threw touchdown passes of 31 yards to Casen Noennig (3 catches, 61 yards), 28 yards to Kelley and a 6-yard laser on fourth down to a leaping Tomasiewicz in the corner of the end zone 12.5 seconds before halftime.

McHenry (0-6, 0-6) managed just 80 yards of total offense as James Fier had three tackles for losses, Cayden Parks had two and Benjamin Kolodziej, Tommy McNeil and Anthony Morales also had stops for losses.

“Last year we had a lot of games that were track meets and this year we’re playing complementary football,” Central coach Dirk Stanger said.

“It’s just chemistry and everyone knows what assignment they have,” Central senior two-way lineman Nick Kozlowski added. “Everyone is executing on the same page, and no matter what it is, they’re making sure they’re doing their job and making sure we get another shutout.”

Kozlowski, McNeil, Bryan Nagel, Nolan Nabielec and Charles Weichman paved the way for 434 total yards for the Tigers. Griffin Buehler (19 carries, 148 yards) finished the scoring on a 19-yard touchdown with 5:20 to play and Thomas Hammond started it on a 19-yard grab from Penza on the opening drive.

Northern Illinois-bound George Dimopoulos caught five passes for 71 yards.

“If the defense is choosing to double George like they did tonight we’ve got four other dudes who can score big touchdowns,” Penza said. “We have guys who can win one-on-ones all day.”

McHenry did play keep-away from Penza to start the second half when it ate up the first eight minutes on a drive from its 31 to the Central 19. Sophomore quarterback Ethan Dietmeyer rushed for 36 yards and converted a first down on a 12-yard pass on fourth-and-6 to sophomore tight end Jonathan Wiseman.

“We’ve talked to the kids about putting 48 minutes together like we almost did last week [17-7 loss to Burlington Central] and things can happen,” McHenry coach Jeff Schroder said. “The kids could have folded down 35-0. We’ve got to figure out how to finish. It’s a little bit of a broken record but it’s our youth getting more experience.”