1997 Freshmen Football

Freshman 9-0 !!!!

The Story of the Undefeated

With final wins of 52-0 over Herscher and 60-0 over Evergreen park, the Freshman Knights football finished a perfect 9-0, with four shutouts for the season. The Knights gave up only six touchdowns, while their offense has averaged over 30 points a game. What this means is that the Knights are not only winning their games, but controlling them to the point where the games become blowouts.

"What it comes down to is that the kids are enthusiastic to play football and be competing," KHS Head Coach Barney Callaghan said.

With around 20 players suited up for each game, many Kaneland players played both ways in an age when most teams platoon their players. This would normally mean that the fourth quarter would be owned by the team with the most rested players, but not so in games against Kaneland.

"We're not doing it with great numbers . . . in the fourth quarter, we've got to just suck it up and do what we've got to do. And we've been doing it all season," Callaghan said.

Led by a quarterback who thought he would be a lineman when the season started, the Knights' offense is hard to stop. "Our quarterback (Dave Issel) is doing a great job. He came out the first day of practice and thought he was going to be a tackle. He went from an offensive lineman to quarterback in one day," Callaghan said.

The offense looks to the run more often than not because that's where their strength lies. They have solid running backs in Robert McGinnis, Ryan Schrader and Ben Rogers, and they have a strong, consistent offensive line to open up holes and protect the quarterback. Justin Walters, Rudy Milo, Adam Schultz, Mike Clark, Corey Carver and Matt Nelson fight in the trenches on every offensive play for the Knights.

"These guys do the grunt work up front for us . . . We set up plays to find a weak link in their line and then just exploit that weakness," Callaghan explained.

Defensively, the Knights are led by Rogers and McGinnis. "They set the tone for us," Callaghan said. Cornerbacks Wayne Shaw and Robbie Bieritz hold their ground at a tough position to play. "If they don't do their job, we get burned pretty well. They're out there by themselves," Callaghan said.

"There's not a selfish person on this team. They understand what it means to have a team effort, and they do a good job," Callaghan said.

Coach Callaghan has coached at Kaneland for 13 years. He also enjoyed a 9-0 season just two years ago with this year's junior class. One look at the varsity tells the tale of what good coaching and success can mean to younger athletes as they build their foundation toward a successful four years in Kaneland football.


The Body of the above article complements of the Elburn Herald and writer Ryan Wells

Day Date   Contest Time   Location   H/A
Sat 8/30/97   Sycamore 10:00   Maple Park   H
Tues 9/2/97   Aurora Central Catholic 4:30   Aurora   A
Tues 9/9/97   Westmont 5:30   Westmont   A
Tues 9/16/97   Glenbard South 4:30   Glenbard S.   A
Tues 9/23/97   Morris 5:00   Morris   A
Tues 9/30/97   Yorkville 5:00   Maple Park   H
Mon 10/6/97   Ridgewood 5:00   Norridge   H
Mon 10/13/97   Herscher 11:00   Herscher   A
Mon 10/20/97   Evergreen Park 5:00   Maple Park   H

RESULTS

Kaneland 20 Sycamore 6

Robert McGinnis 15 yards for TD. Pass failed.

Ben Rogers 15 yards for TD. Rogers pass from David Issel for 2-point conversion.

Rogers 4 yards for TD. Pass failed.

Kaneland 6 8 0 6 20
Sycamore 6 0 0 0 6

Kaneland 28 Aurora Central Catholic 6

Ryan Schrader 25 yards for TD. David Issel run for 2-point conversion.

Ben Rogers 3 yards for TD. Pass failed.

Issel 11 yards for TD. Pass from Rogers to Shawn Fuller for 2-point conversion.

Issel 1 yard for TD. Run failed.

Kaneland 8 6 8 6 28
Aurora CC 6 0 0 0 6

Kaneland 42 Geneva 0

Ben Rogers 25 yards for TD. David Issel run for 2-point conversion.

Ryan Schrader 62 yards for TD. Run failed.

Issel 40 yards for TD. Pass from Issel to Rogers for 2-point conversion.

Ryan Schrader 40 yards for TD. Run failed.

Ryan Schrader 7 yards for TD. Run by Issel for 2-point conversion.

Issel 2 yards for TD. Run failed.

Kaneland 14 14 8 6 42
Geneva 0 0 0 0 0

Kaneland 22 Glenbard South 0

Ben Rogers 25 yards for TD. David Issel run for 2-point conversion.

Issel 3 yards for TD. Pass failed.

Rogers 2 yards for TD. Run by Issel for 2-point conversion.

Kaneland 8 6 8 0 22
Glenbard S. 0 0 0 0 0

Kaneland 28 Morris 6

Dave Issel run for TD. Run failed.

Issel run for TD. Issel run.

Ben Rogers run for TD. Pass failed.

Ryan Schrader run for TD. Rogers run.

Kaneland 0 0 6 22 28
Morris 6 0 0 0 6

Kaneland 38 Yorkville 14

Ryan Schrader run for TD. David Issel run for 2-point conversion.

Ryan Schrader run for TD. Pass Issel to Ben Rogers for 2-point conversion.

Rogers run for TD. Run by Issel for 2-point conversion.

Robert McGinnis run for TD. Run failed

McGinnis run for TD. Pass Issel to Rogers for 2-point conversion.

Kaneland 8 8 8 14 38
Yorkville 0 8 6 0 14

Kaneland 26 Ridgewood 8

The Freshmen kept their record perfect at 7-0 defeating Ridgewood 26-8. Dave Issel scored from 8 yards out and Shawn Fuller caught a 50 yard TD pass from Ryan Schrader for a 14-0 halftime lead. Ben Rogers added a 5 yard TD in the third, and Adam Schultz intercepted a Rebel pass and returned it for Kaneland's final touchdown.

Kaneland 6 8 0 12 26
Ridgewood 0 0 0 8 08

Kaneland 52 Herscher 0

The Freshmen moved to 8-0 defeating Herscher 52-0 by scoring in every quarter. (That's one heck of a sentence.) Dave Issel scored the first TD and also added the 2-point conversion. Then Adam Schultz got a fumble recovery and Issel added the 2-points again. Ben Rogers followed with two touchdowns, while Ryan Schrader ran for the 2-point conversion on the latter. Then Schrader added three touchdowns of his own. Issel ran for yet another conversion and Robert McGinnis rushed for a conversion too.

Kaneland 08 14 22 8 52
Herscher 0 0 0 0 00

Kaneland 60 Evergreen Park 0

The Freshmen finished the season undefeated as they wiped out Evergreen Park 60-0. The Knights finished strong winning their last 2 games by a total of 112-0.

Ryan Schrader ran 35 yards for TD. David Issel run for 2-point conversion.

Ben Rogers ran 3 yards for TD. Run by Robert McGinnis for 2-point conversion.

Shawn Fuller ran 26 yards for TD. Conversion failed.

Pass Issel to Wayne Shaw 28 yards for TD. Run by McGinnis for 2-point conversion.

Ryan Schrader ran 27 yards for TD. Run by McGinnis for 2-point conversion.

Issel ran 4 yards for TD. Run by Issel for 2-point conversion.

Rogers ran 19 yards for TD. Run by McGinnis for 2-point conversion.

Rogers ran 11 yards for TD. Conversion failed.

The freshmen averaged 35.1 points a game while giving up only 4.4 points a contest. They out scored their opponents 316-40. Great Season.

Kaneland 38 8 8 6 60
Evergreen Park 0 0 0 0 00

NUMBER NAME
5 Doug Robinson
8 Robbie Bieritz
10 David Issel
20 Frank Dorneden
22 Ben Rogers
24 Kyle Kainz
30 Steven Neely
32 Chris Proctor
34 Robert McGinnis
40 Chris Melms
44 Ryan Schrader
56 Corey Carver
64 Rudy Milo
66 Mike Clark
67 Adam Schultz
70 Tony Titus
75 Matt Nelson
76 Jesse Mercado
77 Justin Wolbers
78 Justin Oas
80 Scott Pitstick
81 Wayne Shaw
82 Shawn Fuller
84 Chad Sterkel

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