IHSA Class 6A playoffs: Cary-Grove rides early turnovers to big win over Geneva

CARY – Cary-Grove’s defense thwarted Geneva’s first drive, which looked good moving from its own 24-yard line to the Trojans’ 24, by forcing and recovering a fumble.

After C-G’s offense scored in three plays, the defense came up with another turnover as defensive back PJ Weaver picked off a pass and ran it back 41 yards for a touchdown.

“We were meeting with the offense after scoring a touchdown,” said Trojans coach Brad Seaburg, who did not see Weaver’s play. “I hear, ‘Pick-6.’ When you look at our success in the playoffs, this has been our formula, jump out on a team early and just keep at it on offense and defense.”

C-G had it all working as the No. 3-seeded Trojans rolled to a 41-7 victory over No. 7 Geneva in their Class 6A playoff quarterfinal game at Al Bohrer Field.

C-G (10-2) will play at No. 1 Lake Zurich (11-1), likely at 1 p.m. Saturday in a semifinal. It will be the Trojans’ third trip to a semifinal since 2018.

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Cary-Grove’s Peyton Seaburg moves the ball against Geneva in IHSA Class 6A quarterfinal playoff football action at Cary Saturday. (Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local/Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local)

Geneva (9-3) drove well on its initial drive and faced third-and-3, but running back Troy Velez was grabbed by a group of Trojans and defensive back Jack Rocen came out of the pile with the ball.

“[Linebacker] Charlie Ciske and I both thought we got [the strip],” said Rocen, who also had an interception in the first half. “They hadn’t whistled the play dead and I ran in and tried to strip it out and it came out.”

Three plays later, running back Andrew Prio appeared to be in the grasp of a Vikings defender, but spun loose and raced for a 56-yard touchdown.

On the fourth play of Geneva’s next drive, Weaver picked off quarterback Nate Stempowski and ran it in. Weaver figured on a third-and-3 play, Geneva might look for wide receiver Talyn Taylor, who returned to play after missing a few games with an injury.

“The ball ended up in my hands and I ran as fast as I could,” Weaver said. “Our concept this entire year is to be relentless. That’s what we did. That gets everyone going at once.

“Our best games are when offense, defense and special teams are all clicking together. When we work as a team and feel each other.”

C-G’s offense was efficient as usual, scoring on its first six possessions to produce a 41-0 lead and a running clock less than 2 minutes into the third quarter.

“We were looking for explosive plays, we feed off of them,” Trojans defensive back Corey Adams said. “We came out here with one goal, to have no regrets and we did just that.

“Our keys were right and we played and executed. We made big plays. Guys stepped up and we feed off each other. This game is right up there (for the defense)... We made a difference in this game.”

Fullback Logan Abrams capped the next two drives with 4-yard touchdown runs for a 27-0 lead. Then, the Trojans got the ball back with 1:30 remaining in the second quarter and punched in one more score.

Quarterback Peyton Seaburg had a 26-yard run and Abrams took it another 23 to the Geneva 3. Even an illegal motion penalty could not stop C-G.

On third down, Seaburg hit Prio for a 5-yard touchdown with 9.7 seconds to go. C-G, which had everything going in its favor, wanted to leave nothing to chance.

“We wanted to get that score before half and get that one in the second half and get the clock spinning,” Brad Seaburg said. “To have a 40-point lead in the quarterfinals is pretty remarkable, particularly against the quality team that they are.”

Geneva lost 21-18 to Batavia, a Class 7A semifinalist and by one point to Wheaton North, which lost in the second round of the 7A playoffs.

“With so many weapons that they have, the quarterback, No. 1 [Talyn Taylor] was back again, their receivers and running backs, just an unbelievable effort by our guys,” Seaburg said. “On top of that, looking at the scores they had with some of the other teams in the DuKane Conference and how they played, I can’t say enough about our defensive effort.”

Geneva coach Troy Thorgesen knew the start was exactly what his team did not need.

“One thing we did pretty well this year is not turn the ball over and that first one was hard and the second one was harder,” Thorgersen said. “Their kids played hard, it’s what they’ve been doing for a long time and they’re very, very good at what they do.

“We knew we had to play really well on offense and there were too many times we shot ourselves in the foot. When you’re not firing on all cylinders and get behind early, that’s what good teams do to you.”

Prio led C-G with 117 yards on five carries and two touchdowns. Abrams ran 13 times for 86 yards and two scores and Peyton Seaburg carried six times for 77 yards.

Stempowski led Geneva with 88 yards on 16 carries. The Vikings averted a shutout with Stempowski’s 1-yard pass to running back Mike Rumoro late in the third quarter.

“We just wanted to leave it all on the field, have fun and play the rest of the game,” Stempowski said. “We just had to look forward. You can’t change the past, you just have to control what you can control.

It was a running clock, I guess I’ll just run around, backyard football and do my thing.”

C-G is now 15-1 in its last 16 playoff games with state titles in 2018 and 2021. This is the Trojans’ ninth trip to the semifinals since the IHSA went to 32-team brackets in 1985.

“It’s a huge momentum change,” Rocen said of the two quick turnovers the defense produced. “It gets everyone going. Everyone’s riled up and ready to go. It’s an awesome feeling, it’s exciting, the momentum got us going.”

CLASS 6A PLAYOFF QUARTERFINAL

Cary-Grove 41, Geneva 7

Geneva 0 0 7 0 – 7

Cary-Grove 14 20 7 0 – 41

First quarter

CG–Prio 56 run (Apgar kick), 6:13.

CG–Weaver 41 interception return (Apgar kick), 4:06.

Second quarter

CG–Abrams 4 run (kick failed), 11:15.

CG–Abrams 4 run (Apgar kick), 3:21.

CG–Prio 5 pass from Seaburg (Apgar kick), 0:09.7.

Third quarter

CG–Prio 48 run (Apgar kick), 10:04.

G–Rumoro 1 pass from Stempowski (Hodgdon kick), 0:33.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Geneva: Stempowski 16-88, Rumoro 3-45, Velez 4-23, Team 1-minus 1. Totals: 25-155. Cary-Grove: Prio 5-117, Abrams 13-86, Seaburg 6-77, Dunkin 2-11, Barnett 2-9, Moore 2-1. Totals: 30-301.

PASSING–Geneva: Stempowski 10-21-2-50, Chahino 2-3-1-50. Cary-Grove: Seaburg 1-2-0-5, Dunkin 0-2-0-0.

RECEIVING–Geneva: Reyes 4-27, Taylor 3-17, Breon 1-43, Weppner 1-8, Rumoro 2-minus 5. Cary-Grove: Prio 1-5.

TOTAL TEAM YARDS–Cary-Grove 301, Geneva 255.