ROCKFORD — Two games, five days, no problem.

"It wasn’t really that hard,” Rockford Christian coach Kirk Heidelberg said. “We just did what we had to do.”

The Royals crushed Arlington Heights Christian Liberty Academy 62-0 Friday at home just four days after they played a make-up game at Winnetka North Shore Country Day.

Monday’s game was postponed from last weekend due to bad weather.

“We were excited when we found out we’d be playing twice this week,” Rockford Christian junior running back Colton Gann said. “It’s not often you have a chance to win two games in one week.”

The Royals (4-0) escaped the busy week with no major injuries and kept their spotless record intact.

Their opponent Friday is in its first season as a football program and is the newest member of the Indian Trails Conference. Christian Liberty Academy (0-2) struggled from the start, and Rockford Christian took advantage of its inexperience.

“The biggest worry is you never want to play at another team’s level in these kinds of games,” Heidelberg said. “I didn’t want us to start playing sloppy or anything, and we didn’t. The kids performed well and executed.”

Senior quarterback Conrad Ognibene added to his impressive season stats with four touchdowns and 102 passing yards on a 4 of 5 night. Gann added three touchdowns, and freshman Ethan Gailey saw playing time late in the game and impressed the team with 86 yards and one TD on seven carries.

“He’s going to be a good little back,” Heidelberg said. “That’s what we want to see. We needed a game like this to see what kids like him can do.”

Ognibene scored the first two touchdowns on a 13-yard run and a 33-yard interception return. Gann (5 run) and Mason Crosby (3 run) added two more scores, and the Royals led 27-0 after the first quarter.

Rockford Christian took a 55-0 halftime lead on two second-quarter TD’s apiece from Gann (1 run, 50 run) and Ognibene (14 run, 87 punt return). Gailey’s 6-yard run in the third quarter was the only scoring of the running-clock second half.

The Royals’ defense held Christian Liberty to 58 rushing and 47 passing yards. The Chargers were on the 1-yard line in the last two minutes of the game, but Rockford Christian’s second-string defense stopped them to retain the shutout.

- Emily Tropp, rrstar.com