ELGIN – A big third quarter was enough for Glenbard South to lock down a win on the road.
The Raiders scored three times in the third quarter on the way to defeating Larkin, 33-20, in Upstate Eight action at Memorial Field.
Cade Hardtke and Trevor Burnett each ran for two touchdowns for Glenbard South.
Larkin’s Jamarion Stubbs scored on the final play of the first half to get the Royals within 14-6. But the Raiders scored on their first three possessions after the break. Quarterback Hardtke drove the Raiders 60 yards for the first one, covering the final 34 yards himself. Burnett and Kylen Henderson added scores less than two minutes apart to make it 33-6 after three quarters.
The big third quarter was really just a matter of getting back to basics.
“Just really focusing on the reads, executing our run game and being more physical at the line of scrimmage,” Hardtke said.
Hardtke scored on a 10-yard run in the second quarter as the Raiders built a 14-0 lead.
“I think that’s a part of my game that I feel pretty confident in,” he said. “I feel like I run pretty hard and my linemen, they block really hard for me.”
The Royals weren’t quite finished, however. They answered Henderson’s TD with a 68-yard drive. The big play was Stubbs’ 53-yard scramble to the Raiders’ 24. Four plays later he took it over from 10 yards out.
Larkin scored on its next possession with a pretty 33-yard completion from Dontrell Maxie to Timothy Scott. Stubbs’ 2-point conversion made it 33-20 with 5:03 left but the Royals never got the ball back. The Raiders picked up two first downs on the ensuing drive and that was enough to run out the clock.
Stubbs did a little of everything for Larkin. He ran 23 times for 112 yards and two scores, caught two passes from Maxie, threw a completion, and came down with an interception on defense.
Burnett led a balanced Raiders’ rushing attack with 96 yards on 17 carries. Hardtke ran for 83 and Henderson added 64 yards as the Raiders racked up 253 yards on the ground.
After a scoreless first quarter, Hardtke put the Raiders on the board with a 10-yard run around the right side. Burnett added his first score five minutes later and it looked like Glenbard was off to the races.
But the Royals had other ideas. On the Royals’ next possession, Trevor Matison gained 37 yards on a fake punt to keep the drive alive. It looked like Larkin had run out of time when Stubbs’ pass in the end zone was incomplete as the first-half clock expired. But the Raiders were whistled for pass interference, giving the Royals another down and Stubbs ran it in from 4 yards out.