Late Tigers touchdown sinks Blue Streaks

A last-minute touchdown by Crystal Lake Central ended the Woodstock High School Blue Streaks’ hopes of an upset on the road Sept. 7 as they fell 21-14 to the Tigers. 

The Streaks traveled to CLC Sept. 7 and faced an uphill battle against a team that defeated them 20-7 last season. The Blue Streaks (1-2) hung tough against the Tigers, who racked up 415 total yards of offense — almost three time as much as the Streaks — but ended up losing 21-14 when the Tigers scored with 21 seconds left in the game.

“I am very proud of our effort and execution,” said head coach Steve Beard. “They executed and played with their hearts. That was our third game of the season and it was our best game so far. We just have to walk away from that, and we have to play as well next Friday. But, we also have to win.”

The Tigers jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, scoring on runs of 73 and 5 yards in the first quarter. The Streaks fought back with senior Brad Bertram scoring on a 3-yard run early in the second quarter. The extra-point conversion was missed making the score 14-6. 

Late in the second quarter, the Streaks recovered a muffed punt and took over in Tiger territory. On fourth down and 10 yards, junior quarterback Alan Hafer threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to junior Mitch Kohley. Bertram ran in the two-point conversion tying the game at 14 with fewer than two minutes to go before halftime. 

The teams traded possessions in the second half. With just under four minutes to go in the game, the Streaks had the ball on the Tigers 45-yard line but could not convert on a third down and 10 yards. 

“If we could have converted, we could have won the game,” Beard said.

The Tigers took over on their 5-yard line after a Blue Streak punt and drove 95 yards for the winning touchdown.  

Senior linebacker Jack McCoy was obviously disappointed in the loss but said the team played great and believes the Streaks will use the loss to motivate themselves going forward.

“It was our best game of the year,” McCoy said. “Our offense played great. Our defense ran out of steam at the end of the game and couldn’t stop their high powered offense.

“I think this is going to give us some momentum. The defense is going to lock down. The offense is going to score some more points, and we are going to bring a big homecoming win.”

Beard who said the team “played great, we just didn’t win” was very happy with how the team executed on the field.

 “We’ve been preaching to our kids about executing the game plan, and I thought they played with their heads first and their hearts second,” Beard said. “Playing with your heads means you’re doing what you’ve been coached up to do, and they did that.”

The Streaks will host Grayslake Central (1-2) for homecoming at 7 p.m., Friday, Aug. 14, at Larry Dale Field.