Huntley coach Mike Naymola had a simple message for his unbeaten team prior to Friday’s Fox Valley Conference game against winless Crystal Lake South in Crystal Lake.

Don’t overlook the Gators.

Although it wasn’t pretty at times early-on, his players took his advice to heart when it mattered most, and the end result was a 28-7 win by the Red Raiders (3-0, 3-0 FVC).

Senior Connor Wade kicked off the scoring with 1:47 remaining in the opening quarter, thanks to his 9-yard touchdown run to the left side of the end zone on a sweep.

That’s the way the score remained — a 7-0 Red Raiders’ lead — until late in the third quarter. Which was noteworthy, considering Huntley’s offense had tallied 70 combined points in its first two games.

Sophomore Chase Hojnacki eventually extended that advantage to 14-0 when he found the end zone on a 6-yard TD run of his own with 4:52 to go in the third quarter.

“I believe the late-game turnaround was partly due to motivation by our coaches,” said Hojnacki, who finished with 25 carries for 140 yards. “Tuesday we didn’t have a good practice, and sometimes collectively we go through moments where we lack effort a bit. They kept us focused, and did so tonight also.

“As the game went on, we found our rhythm and stayed motivated and hungry. Our offensive line worked hard, battled, and created room when we needed to.”

The Gators (0-3, 0-3) responded to Hojnacki’s score quickly.

On the ensuing drive, South quarterback Michael Silvius engineered a nine-play, 69-yard gem that took just over four minutes.

It was capped off by his 11-yard TD pass to senior Logan Driscol, who raced to the far right pylon after catching a short pass near the line of scrimmage, then barely snuck past a Huntley defender.

Suddenly, it was a one-score game again at 14-7, with just 24 seconds left in the quarter.

“I don’t like losing, but our guys showed a lot of heart and never quit out there,” South coach Rob Fontana said. “We have 21 seniors, and anytime you lose, it’s a hard pill to swallow.

“But they showed real leadership against a really good team. We did a lot of great things that we can hang our hats on, especially defensively.”

The Gators forced a pair of turnovers on downs in their own red zone earlier in the game in the first half. But when the fourth quarter began, the Raiders sprung to life.

Just two minutes into the final quarter, Hojnacki scored his second rushing touchdown of the evening, this time on a 7-yard run.

It was also his seventh rushing TD in the first three weeks of the season.

“He’s got an incredible head on his shoulders, and as the game went on, it seemed like we started doing more of the things we had hoped to do earlier in the game. Mainly, we started finishing our drives.”

Huntley got one final TD midway through the fourth, as QB Malik Carter found Brady Allegretti on a 27-yard strike through the air.

“This was his first [varsity] start, so that was a real nice moment for him. We’d been alternating QBs during the first two games, before Carson Rowe got injured last week.”

Carter was 13 of 21 passing for 132 yards.

But as strong as the Raiders were moving the ball down the stretch, their defense deserves plenty of credit, too. The defense held the Gators to 197 yards of total offense (133 passing, 64 rushing).

Huntley picked off Silvius (14 for 24, 133 yards) twice in the second half, once by James DiDomenico, the other by Dominick Savino.

The win sets up a huge Week 4 FVC showdown at home for the Raiders, against Cary-Grove (1-2, 1-2), which will be hungry after an uncharacteristic slow start.

“I don’t make predictions,” Naymola said. “But I will say this. We’re going to be prepared, and we’re going to do everything in our power as a team to put ourselves in a position to be competitive. I’m looking forward to the challenge in front of us.”