As he patiently waited to fulfill a reporter’s request to interview him after Richmond-Burton’s 57-7 win over host Aurora Central Catholic on Friday night, running back Hunter Carley worked on his golf swing, minus a club.

“Practicing my nine iron,” joked Carley, who considers golf a pastime of his.

While the golf season might be over in Illinois, the high school football season continues for 64 teams.

The winners from Round 2 in the IHSA’s eight classes received quarterfinal plaques. Richmond-Burton coach Mike Noll tucked his team’s plaque under his arm as he talked about the Rockets’ second dominating performance in as many playoff games.

Led by Carley’s three touchdowns, including his 29th and 30th rushing this season, top-seeded R-B jumped out to a 29-0 lead after one quarter against No. 9 Aurora Central Catholic in the Class 3A game. Fullback Riley Shea (six carries, 96 yards) added two TDs, while backups Gavin Saranzak (five carries, 67 yards) and Ethan Martens (two carries, 23 yards) scored in the second half with a running clock.

QB Ray Hannemann (3 of 6, 73 yards) threw TD passes of 40 yards to Carley and 14 yards to tight end Jace Nelson. Kicker Trey Maziarz drilled 7 PAT kicks in as many attempts. Carley carried four times for 58 yards.

The Rockets, who opened the playoffs with a 49-0 rout of No. 16 North Boone, have outscored their past two opponents 106-7.

“Next week gets real,” Noll said Friday night. “It gets a lot harder from here on out, but that’s the fun of it.”

R-B (11-0) returns home to host No. 5 Monmouth-Roseville (10-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday in quarterfinal action.

A reprieve from cold weather or not, this week, golf can wait.

Cary-Grove cruises

Cary-Grove’s option attack continued to churn out yards and touchdowns in the Trojans’ 55-21 win over No. 14 St. Patrick in Class 5A action Saturday night at Triton College in River Grove.

No. 6 C-G (9-2) broke off seven runs of 40 or more yards and generated more than 400 yards in winning its ninth game in a row. Five players scored touchdowns, while the Trojans intercepted St. Patrick quarterback Gavin Gardiner three times, twice by Jason Ritter Jr.

QB Jackson Berndt had 122 rushing yards on just three carries. He scored his second touchdown midway through the first quarter, shedding tacklers for a 72-yard score on the team’s longest offensive play from scrimmage.

Freshman running back Leo Zavala had TD runs of 65 and 66 yards. He finished with 131 rushing yards on only three carries.

“We just clicked as an offense,” Zavala said. “We had great blocks all game, which allowed me to make my runs. We played as a whole unit today. We had the approach of being relentless and never giving up. We did our best for our teammates. It’s a pretty good confidence builder, but we play with the same mindset for every team. We play relentless and we play the best we can.”

The Trojans host No. 2 Belvidere North (11-0) at 7 p.m. Friday.

Burlington Central holds off Harlem

A steady rain made for messy conditions Saturday night at Rocket Hill, as No. 2 Burlington Central played No. 7 Harlem in Class 6A action, so the host Rockets kept the ball on the ground.

Central QB Landon Arnold didn’t complete a pass but used his tough, downhill running skills to lead the Rockets to a 24-14 win. He busted off a 56-yard run after Harlem cut Central’s lead 17-14 with 5:36 left. Arnold finished the drive with a 3-yard TD run with 2:17 to go.

“With the weather, we were just trying to keep minimal exchanges as we could,” said coach Brian Iossi, whose Rockets reached 10 wins for the first time in 19 years.

Arnold ran for a game-high 134 yards on 19 carries. Senior Tyler McGladdery had 50 yards on 10 carries, including TDs of 3 and 8 yards.

Central (10-1), winners of seven in a row, visits No. 11 Fenwick (8-3) for a 1 p.m. kickoff Saturday.

Prairie Ridge falls

Top-seeded and undefeated Prairie Ridge saw its season end at the hands of No. 9 St. Francis for the second year in a row, 41-38, on Saturday in a Class 5A game in Wheaton, despite the efforts of QB Luke Vanderwiel.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Vanderwiel said. “We got behind the sticks and had some plays there not go our way, but that’s football. It was fun to play one last time with the boys.”

Vanderwiel rushed for 182 yards and four TDs. He finished his fourth season on varsity with 1,808 rushing yards and 32 TDs.

The Fox Valley Conference champions finished 10-1.

“[Vanderwiel] is such a special player,” said St. Francis coach Bob McMillen, whose team hosts No. 13 Chicago King (7-4) at 1 p.m. Saturday. “That is such a good football team that we beat today. They play the game the right way, make things very difficult on you, and you can understand why they are consistently in the hunt year after year.”

Brother Rice routs Jacobs

No. 22 Jacobs had its season end with a 46-0 loss to No. 6 Brother Rice in Class 7A action Saturday night in rainy Algonquin.

Crusaders senior running back Jaylin Green scored on each of his team’s first five possessions. His first three TD runs (2, 1, and 7 yards) had Brother Rice ahead 18-0 after the first quarter.

Senior Michael Cannady rushed for 62 yards on 26 carries for Jacobs (7-4), which will graduate 22 players.

“I told [the seniors] what they meant to us,” Golden Eagles coach Brian Zimmerman said. “They are the building blocks of the program. I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done and everything they put in.”

• Northwest Herald sports editor Alex Kantecki, staff writer Russ Hodges and correspondents Chris Casey and Lou Nunez contributed to this report.