Belvidere North senior cornerback Jackson Johnson and his football teammates never lost belief in themselves, even if some people in their high school did.

The undefeated Blue Thunder visited Cary-Grove in a Class 5A state quarterfinal game Friday night, looking to exact revenge after it was blown out by C-G almost exactly one year earlier in Cary.

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Cary-Grove's Brady Elbert sacks Belvidere North's Andrew Bucci during an IHSA Class 5A quarterfinal playoff football game on Friday, November 14, 2025, at Cary-Grove High School, in Cary. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver )

Some people, apparently, expected a similar result.

“I even heard it in my own school,” Johnson said. “Some students, some teachers were saying, ‘It was a great season. But you got Cary-Grove now.’ ”

This year, Belvidere North got the best of its quarterfinal opponent.

Johnson returned a fumble 86 yards for a touchdown early in the game, and the Thunder never trailed in beating No. 6 Cary-Grove 17-10 to advance to the semifinals for the first time in the school’s 18-year history.

No. 2 Belvidere North (12-0) will next play the winner of Saturday’s 1 p.m. game between No. 13 King (7-4) and No. 9 St. Francis (8-3) in Wheaton.

“Cary-Grove physically beat us up last year,” Belvidere North Jeff Beck said of the Thunder’s 42-7 quarterfinal loss. “Our mantra this week was, ‘Let’s go down swinging. Whatever happens, happens. But let’s be as physical, if not more physical, and the scoreboard will take care of itself.’ ”

It didn’t take long for the visitors to assert themselves.

Belvidere North went three and out on its opening possession, but five plays after Lance Moore’s 43-yard punt return set C-G (9-3) up at the Thunder 20-yard line, the Trojans fumbled at the line of scrimmage. Johnson grabbed the bouncing ball at the 14 and raced the other way to put the Thunder up 7-0 with 6:44 left in the first quarter.

“I’m playing at corner, and I run around, and I don’t see anything,” Johnson said. “And then I just see the ball pop right out, so I scooped it up. My first instinct is just to go. My entire thought the whole way down was just, ‘Don’t get tackled from behind.’ ”

Early in the second quarter, Belvidere North got another big play, this time from its option offense. Quarterback Andrew Bucci hit Nathan Alexander on a play-action toss over the middle for a 71-yard score – the Thunder’s only pass of the game – and it was 14-0.

“They seized the momentum right away,” C-G coach Brad Seaburg said.

“[Belvidere North] came out prepared a little more than us,” said senior Jason Ritter Jr., Cary-Grove’s two-year starting defensive back. “They definitely started out hot. We started out a little slow. We tried to get the momentum back after halftime, but it just didn’t go our way.”

Trailing 17-0 at halftime after Belvidere North’s Jovanni Pina drilled a 40-yard field goal with 5:10 to go, Cary-Grove opened the second half with a 16-play drive to the 10. But a holding penalty on Leo Zavala’s fourth-and-3 run that would have given the Trojans first-and-goal was negated by a holding penalty.

C-G kicker Angel Apaez’s 37-yard field goal try hit the right upright with 29 seconds left in the third, after the Trojans had possessed the ball the entire quarter.

Logan Abrams (32 carries, 127 yards) ran the ball 12 times on the drive.

“We had a great fourth-down play,” said Seaburg, whose team was seeking a semifinal berth for the third year in a row. “We needed to get some points there. But you look at the playoffs, and that’s how it works. You turn the ball over, you have penalties, you don’t take advantage of opportunities, and if it’s a competitive game, and it comes down to [the end], you’re not going to win.”

C-G finally got a big play early in the fourth quarter when Ritter recovered a fumble at the Thunder 30. Four plays later, QB Jackson Berndt scrambled and raced into the end zone from 5 yards out.

C-G put together another scoring drive, which Apaez capped with a 31-yard field to get the Trojans to within seven points. But only one minute remained on the clock after the drive took 14 plays.

The Trojans’ longest run was 14 yards by Abrams. Berndt completed only one pass, a 21-yarder to freshman Ty Tenopir that set up C-G’s only TD.

The Trojans had won nine in a row.

“[No.] 40 [Abrams] is a beast, [No.] 11 [Berndt] is a beast, and he’s only a sophomore,” Beck said. “You can’t replicate that [in practice]. I think our guys did the best that they could, and our defense had a great game play.”