Cary-Grove was well aware of Sycamore’s ability to come from behind.

The Trojans knew how the Spartans came from behind the previous week against a seven-win Cahokia team just to qualify for the playoffs and how dangerous they could be.

So, they aimed to suffocate Sycamore from the very beginning of the Class 5A first-round playoff game Saturday in Cary.

The Trojans scored three first-quarter touchdowns and dominated defensively, which was enough to provide a comfortable cushion that was never truly threatened in a 42-14 win.

Led by quarterback Jackson Berndt’s day of 172 yards on 24 carries with a touchdown, Cary-Grove put up those three scores before Sycamore (5-5) even earned a first down.

“That was huge,” said C-G coach Brad Seaburg. “It gave our defense some confidence in stopping them three times. It gave the offense some confidence in doing some good things against them.”

Big plays were the recipe. On its first drive, a 38-yard run by Leo Zavala set up a 9-yard touchdown from Berndt. Next, freshman Ty Tenopir made a terrific adjustment on a run that turned into a 54-yard touchdown scamper, the first of his two scores.

Finally, another big run from Zavala, this one of 51 yards, set up a 13-yard touchdown run from Logan Abrams to make it 21-0 with 54.5 seconds left in the period.

It’s not as Sycamore didn’t try to make another comeback. Playing in the final game of long-time coach Joe Ryan’s magnificent career, the Spartans showed fight defensively in the second quarter to keep it at 21-0. Then quarterback Griffin Larsen had touchdown passes of 66 yards to Benjamin Anderson and 46 to Josiah Mitchell around a surprise onside kick to make it 28-14 with 5:49 left in the third quarter.

However, Cary-Grove squashed the comeback attempt on the very next drive. A diverse offense that got touchdowns from five different players got a 6-yard scoring run from Lance Moore with 1:36 on the third-quarter clock.

Moore then answered on the defensive end with a clutch interception on the next drive.

“We had to make an adjustment for sure, mentally and physically,” Moore said. “We had to be better, because before we weren’t on top of our game. We made some mistakes. But they are a good team, too. You have to play to a high level in order to perform against a team like that.”

Zavala, who also broke the 100-yard mark with 106 yards, scored the game’s final touchdown on a 17-yarder. Cary-Grove, which will face either St. Patrick or Wauconda in the second round, did all of its damage on the ground with 502 yards.

“It’s just really tough to stop them,” Ryan said. “That fullback’s a ton, the quarterback ran really well. Their schemes are really good. They got that next score on the board, and it made things really difficult.”

Larsen finished 11-of-18 passing for 200 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for Sycamore. Mitchell caught five of those passes for 116 yards.