Tyler Pennington, Cary-Grove crush Libertyville

With its prolific ground attack, the Cary-Grove offense is not known for striking quick. But it was a quick strike of sorts that sparked the Trojans in a Class 7A semifinal Saturday in Libertyville.

Led by the legs of talented sophomore Tyler Pennington and a bruising offensive line, the Trojans responded to a Libertyville score with 28 unanswered points to down the Wildcats 41-7 before an overflow crowd.

Cary-Grove (13-0) will play for the Class 7A state title next week against Providence (12-1), a 42-21 winner over Mount Carmel, at 4 p.m. next Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Champaign in a rematch of the 2009 title game won by the Trojans.

“It’s such hard work from the kids, the community, everyone to get Downstate,” Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg said. “It’s very hard to get down there and some communities never do. We are very fortunate.”

After Libertyville (9-4) used nearly 9 minutes to complete a 90-yard drive with a Riley Lees touchdown run, Cary-Grove went to work. The Trojans needed all of 3 minutes to regain any momentum they may have lost with a 3-yard touchdown run by Pennington, one of four on the night, to put the Trojans up 20-7 just before half.

“We knew that if we went in down 13-7 we were in pretty good shape,” Libertyville coach Mike Jones said. “[Cary-Grove] is explosive. It doesn’t always look explosive.”

Cary came right out in the third quarter and put the contest away. Pennington hit the end zone three more times and finished with 113 yards on 19 carries.

“This is just great – this is all why I am playing this game,” Pennington said. “With as hard as everyone is working, I just go out and try not to be the guy that ruins it for them.”

Defensively, the Trojans set their sights on Lees and limited the junior standout to his lowest offensive output of the season. Lees managed just 10 yards rushing and 84 combined yards from scrimmage.

“We knew that Cary was going to do to try and slow us down and we tried to adjust to it – but they are a great team and you have to give them credit.”

Other Trojan touchdowns included a 29-yard scoring pass from Jason Gregoire to Larkin Hanselmann and a 2-yard keeper by Gregoire early in the first quarter.