July 10, 2025
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McHenry’s defense comes up big in FVC win against Hampshire

By Sam Natrop for Shaw Local
Frank Smiesko, McHenry

Frank Smiesko, McHenry

McHENRY – McHenry’s high-powered offense couldn’t seem to get on track Friday night, so the defense stepped up time after time and helped the Warrior faithful breathe a huge sigh of relief.

The Warriors (1-4, 1-4 FVC) thwarted a last-minute scoring drive by Hampshire and held on for a 12-8 Fox Valley Conference victory at McCracken Field. The victory, McHenry’s first of the season, helped keep its slim playoff hopes alive.

Hampshire (0-5, 0-5) took over at its own 31 with 3:48 to play and marched downfield behind the masterful passing of quarterback Luke Lacke (14-of-24 passing for 106 yards) and the relentless running of Cole Klawikowski (27 carries, 129 yards).

The Whips got as deep as the McHenry 21, but back-to-back sacks by Conner McLean and Frank Smiesko took the ball back to the 34. Hampshire’s last-ditch pass into the end zone fell incomplete.

“Our main focus was 34 [Klawikowski], for sure,” Smiesko said. “We used a lot of slants up front to keep them off balance, but stopping him was our main goal.”

McHenry held Hampshire to 116 net rushing yards, including three sacks of Lacke for minus-20 yards.

“He’s a talented kid. He runs hard, he makes cuts, he makes great reads. He’s a real good one,” McHenry coach Joel Beard said of Klawikowski. “But I’m just incredibly proud of our kids, especially our defense. We battled tonight. Hampshire battled hard tonight, as well. We had some opportunities, but our offense couldn’t put it in the end zone. But in the end, we Warriored up.”

McHenry scored all of its points in the first half. The first score was a 2-yard run by Dylan Drumheller (21 carries, 74 yards) and the second was a 27-yard scoring strike from Dom Caruso (5-for-11, 67 yards) to Jacob Zarek (2 receptions, 32 yards).

Hampshire got back within 12-6 on Klawikowski’s 6-yard TD run just before halftime, and the Whips added a safety late in the third when William Ardson, Collin Kallhoff and Joseph Lentz got to Caruso, forcing the quarterback to fumble out of the end zone. The Whip-Purs also got a blocked punt from Bryce Bannerman.

“We have to get in the film room, see why we can’t get the ball in the end zone, and fix those problems,” said Hampshire coach Jake Brosman, whose team held McHenry to 147 total yards. “Our defense played lights out, they kept us in the game. We just have to get back to practice and keep working hard.”

Although a 1-4 record is still a long way from being playoff-eligible, the Warriors have long-range plans in their sights. Coming into Friday’s contest, McHenry’s four losses came to the FVC’s upper-echelon teams that had a combined 13-2 record.

“Even though we lost [18-0] to Cary-Grove we were in that game,” Smiesko said. “We played tough against them and PR [a 36-28 loss] and Jacobs [a 28-22 defeat]. We’ve always been a better second-half team and now we have a lot of confidence going into our next few games.”