At halftime of last Friday night's game, the scoreboard read Sycamore 7 - Guest (Kaneland) 6. But when the scoreboard was finally unplugged for the night it displayed: Sycamore 14 Guest 42. And now for the rest of the story!
It all started with the Knights adding two new weapons to their already impressive arsenal. Playing for the first time this year were middle linebacker Rusty (who wasn't rusty) Pozen and kicker Matt (who wasn't glad) Gladd.
Pozen started where he left off last year plugging up the middle - big time. Gladd on the other hand had a tough first half missing his first extra point try. However, in the second half he boomed his first four Kickoffs out of the end zone and made good on all 4 extra point attempts.
Kaneland looked like they were going to take charge early, when they received the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards down field. Ryan West capped the 11 play drive with a nifty 10 yard run for a 6-0 Kaneland advantage. The Knights made the drive look easy, requiring only one third down play. But maybe it was too easy.
When the Spartans got their chance, they drove 60 yards in 11 plays to the Kaneland 2 inch line before being stopped by a great Kaneland goal line stand. Not to be overlooked was a shirttail tackle by Aaron Seibens on a break away run, midway through the drive, to save a touchdown.
That set the tone for the half as both teams went at each other, neither wanting to give an inch. Then midway through the second quarter Dereck Egler of Sycamore recovered a Kaneland fumble near midfield and ran it in for the Spartans lone first half score. Add the extra point, and Kaneland was behind for the first time this season 7-6, a score that held up until intermission.
So what happens in the locker room when trailing by a point.
"We didn't really say that much, we wanted it to come from within", commented Coach Rich Kearney. "We really didn't make any adjustments defensively".
"They didn't yell at us all that much", says P.J. Fleck. "They told us to be more positive".
"They told us not to get down on ourselves and not to be negative towards the officials, but to be positive and keep our composure", added West. "We had played bad and where only down by one point. All we had to do was play our game we would come out with a win."
When the Knights came out for the second half, they were truly a different football team. A more focused team. A more determined team. A proud team. And the results where staggering.
The Spartans got the ball first, but it was 3 downs and punt. It took Kaneland just 3 plays to grab the led back, thanks to a 22 yard Eric Delaney to West TD pass. West then made the most spectacular play of the night, leaping laterally fully extended to snare a Delaney pass for the two point conversion and a Kaneland 14-7 lead.
Then thanks to a Fleck pass interception the Knights where on the attack again. Four plays later Kyle Schrader was crossing the end zone from 18 yards out and Kaneland was up 21-7.
But on their next possession the Knights fumbled the ball. Sycamore recorded on their own 47 to set up the first score of the season against the Kaneland defense. Sycamore ran 4 play book perfect plays sandwiched around a 15 yard Kaneland penalty for a touchdown and the game was close again, 21-14.
But Kaneland was humming, and in just 4 plays the Knights scored on a 41 yard screen pass to West and just 4 minutes later he did it again this time on a 33 yard scamper. It was West's fourth touchdown of the night. The dam had broke and Sycamore couldn't fix it.
They tried, but with only 6 minutes left Fleck intercepted his second Spartan pass on the Kaneland end line and returned it 67 yards before being smashed out of bounds.
"I thought I was going all the way, until that big guy hit me", recalled Fleck.
From there it was the Ian Thomas "Running Road Show" as he carried the ball 6 out of 8 attempts scoring Kaneland's final tally from two yards out to put an explanation point on a great second half.
"It was nice to keep getting the ball. I really wanted to score", said a happy Thomas.
Sycamore Coach Daryl Graves summed it up best. "Kaneland just got better and better as the this game went on". Which brings back a preseason quote by Coach Kearney, " We will get better and better and better"!
With the win the Knights were ranked number 10 in the state in class 4A.
Next the Knights make a visit to Glenbard South for their first of three Saturday afternoon Matinees. The Raiders have yet to win this season. They have only 6 returning lettermen from last year's team which Kaneland beat 25-6. In addition Saturday may be the only time this season that the Knights will have a bigger interior line than their opponent.
Offensively the Knights should be able to move the ball against the Raiders who have a porous line and leaky backfield. They do however, have a good trio at linebacker, but it will take more than three guys to stop the Knight's explosive offense.
On the other side of the ball, the Raiders consist of three players. Paul Faber (#22), a talented, speedy, little tailback, Jon Dana (#87) an end who will grab his share of passes, and QB Dusty Slawinski (#15) who possesses a nice arm. However, the line should be overwhelmed by Kaneland's quickness.
Kaneland sophomores also won 16-6, and the Freshmen team beat Geneva 42-0, giving all three Kaneland high school football teams a combined record of 7-0.
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