As the Red Raiders walked onto the field, a sense of determination filled the air. The game against Prairie Ridge ended 28-24 with Huntley emerging victorious after a last-minute comeback. There was a lot more focus than in the previous game against Jacobs, where Huntley lost 14-7.

“I think our whole mentality about taking care of the small details, stemmed [from] not trying to do too much, doing your responsibility, and not trying to do other people’s stuff. … From one week to another we’ve experienced such a [change from] low to high. I’m glad the kids experienced that loss early in the season so it propels us [forward],” coach Michael Naymola said.

Looking onto the bleachers, the student section wore gold to raise money for Cal’s Angels, a program that raises money for pediatric cancer research, and to support Huntley’s own Peyton Felde.

As Raider Nation pumped up the energy, the team filed down the field. The players shook out their hands and jumped up and down while the crowd cheered louder than imaginable, ready for another win against Prairie Ridge. 

With 5 minutes and 7 seconds left of the first quarter, Huntley got a fourth down. Then slotback Joey Caludren ran to the end zone for Huntley’s first touchdown. As Caluderen sprinted back to the sidelines, he got a high five from teacher Gibson Danekas.

In the second quarter, Bruno Brosman, quarterback, ran it up the middle and threw it to Alex Janke, who brought it all the way to the endzone. Once again, Huntley’s offense was visibly stronger than last week and determined to make up what had happened in the last game versus Jacobs.

The score remained 14-10 by the end of the second quarter. 

In the middle of the third quarter, Huntley punted at their own 3-yard line when #8 of Prairie Ridge recovered the ball and ran it back for a touchdown, making it 21-24 with Prairie Ridge in the lead.

Within the last quarter, they were down by three points. Huntley was able to get a touchdown and then a punt, thanks to kicker Brian Varva. With 1 minute and 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Huntley ran up the middle with a gain of 2 yards. With 38.3 seconds left, Huntley was at PR’s 2-yard line, ran for a touchdown, and kicked the extra point, making the score 28-24. 

The stands boomed with energy as Huntley was in the lead and when multiple timeouts stalled the game. 38.8 seconds became 34.4 as Prairie Ridge threw the ball for a complete pass and headed toward the end zone before getting tackled by Tristan Carone, the outside linebacker. With seconds left, Huntley intercepted the ball and ran it down the line until the time ran out. Huntley won 28-24. 

“When you get the win, it always ends up how you wanted it to. There’s always difficult paths to get there; you hit the lows and highs throughout the whole game but the offensive was able to really redeem themselves from the upper we gave last week and the defense continued to be what they’d been all year,” Naymola said. 

The team will play next Friday at Cary-Grove High School.