The defining moment for Cary-Grove’s defense did not come in a football game this season.

It happened about a month before the Aug. 24 opener against St. Charles East. It was at the team camp conducted at Wisconsin-Whitewater in late July. It was there when defensive coordinator Don Sutherland, the mastermind of the Trojans’ vaunted 3-3-5 defense that has been so good for almost a decade, lit the fire.

“We weren’t playing very well or very physically,” safety Kasey Fields said. “Coach [Sutherland] really got on us and challenged us there.”