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All year long the Knights have been rated first in 3A. Therefore, the next
logical question is where do they rate in the state at all levels. As a Class
3A team the Knights couldn't break into the Chicago Tribune Top 20 all regular
season.
Finally, after winning their 25th game in a row in round two of the playoffs they made the list, at number 19. After beating Evergreen Park in round three, they moved up to the 17th best team in the State and stayed there the following week even though they beat Spring valley Hal.
Then after winning the Class 3A state championship for the second straight year they moved up to 13th, the highest state wide ranking the Knights have ever been.
1. (Tie) Mt. Carmel 14-0 1.
Wheaton Warrenville S. 14-0
3. Providence 12-2
4. Barrington 13-1
5. Bishop McNamara13-1
6. Naperville North 10-3
7. Downers Grove North 10-3
8. St. Charles 11-1
9. Bolingbrook 11-2
10. Lincoln-Way 10-2
11. Lockport 10-2
12. Libertyville 10-1
13. Kaneland 14-0
14. Naperville Central 8-4
15. McHenry 11-1
16. Loyola 8-3
17. Andrew 9-2
18. Sandburg 8-3
19. Marmion 11-1
20. Cary-Grove 10-2
Last year the Knights finished 16th in the state.
Down in Harrisburg there's a community gathering point called John's Cafe. Recently a couple of hunters from the Kaneland area had the opportunity to stop by John's Cafe and chat awhile with the locals.
And what do they like talking about? Football!
Their analysis of this year's Class 3A champion is simple. They feel no team down south can compete with Kaneland's speed and quickness. And actually feel if Harrisburg would play the Knights twenty times they would probably lose twenty times (well maybe 19).
Harrisburg advanced to the quarter-final round this year before losing to undefeated Nashville.
How good are the Knights? Simply put the Knights have out scored their opponents 533-158 in their 14 games. That's an average score of 38-11! Now that's good!
533 points in a season placed the Knights 21st on the State's all-time season record scoring list for all classes.
The record is held by East St. Louis who scored a total of 671 points in 1985.
Did you know, that if the Knights win the Class 3A championship this year that Kaneland will have won as many State football Championships as the Morris Redskins!
The following "Sporting a Winning Attitude" report was filed with IHSA following the Westmont game by Harvey Watson of WSPY radio.
"(In the game against Westmont), once his team had opened up a 42-0 lead, Kaneland head coach Joe Thorgesen liberally substituted for his regulars. Late in the game, Kaneland was leading 49-7 when Westmont fumbled. A Kaneland defender scooped up the football and ran it in for a touchdown, making it 55-7.
"With an undefeated season and conference championship locked up, and virtually assured of a high playoff seed, Coach Thorgesen had his players line up as if they were going for the two-point conversion. But, to the delight of good sportsmen everywhere, the quarterback took the snap and immediately went to one knee, insuring the failure of the conversion attempt.
"I have observed Coach Thorgesen's teams for three seasons and seen them both win and lose. This was a typical act by a classy coach who always treats his opponents with respect and dignity."
High school media and fans alike devote many lines of print and arm-chair quarterback conversations to the championship teams such as Mt. Carmel and Providence. But hidden behind the luster of those Catholic powers is defending 3A champion Kaneland.
This is after the Knights won their 24th straight game.
It use to be if you wanted to know how the Knights did in football or any other sport for that matter you either had to ask someone or wait until Thursday when the Elburn Herald came out. Even then the Herald reported just the basics and special interest stories were few and far between.
That was just three years ago. Boy, how things have changed. Hardly a day goes by where some paper somewhere isn't writing something about the Knights. Moreover, nearly every game is televised over Channel 17 and radio coverage is a common place.
Take the Herscher game for example. The following papers had the game story about the Knights.
It seems everyone just can't get enough of the Knights. They are a Phenomena that virtually everybody wants a piece of.
In their 12 games this season the Knights have scored 30 or points in all but two, (Ridgewood and Evergreen Park). And the Knights have scored 40 points or more in 8 of their 12 games. In addition, the knights have scored 40 points or more in 11 of their last 12 regular season games.
The Knights have caused a running-clock (40 or more point lead) to start in half of their games this year and have gotten the running-clock to kick in 7 of their last 12 regular season games. The Wilmington game was the first playoff running-clock ever for the Knights.
When the Knights played Westmont in the final regular season game they held the Sentinels to only 44 yards passing and a minus 46 yards rushing for a total of -2 total yards, the 21st best defensive effort ever in state history.
Moreover, the -46 rushing yards earned the Knights a spot in the record book with the 12th best rushing defense in state history. Quarterback Dan Barrett helped the Knights get their record with a minus 73 yards rushing primarily due to numerous Kaneland sacks.
It may be new, but is the SPC-White is the best 3A conference in the state? Well, find another conference that has as many good teams - Kaneland, Herscher, Evergreen Park, Sycamore, Yorkville and Ridgewood. Ridgewood would probably win the Interstate Eight, yet they are the 6th best team in the SPC.
Pretty impressive.
With Kaneland winning 28 games in a row for the longest winning streak in the state, the next logical question is, what is the longest winning streak ever in Illinois High School football? Well, here is the answer:
Oh yea, the longest losing streak is a tie by Peoria-Woodruff in 1965-1969 and Machesney Park-Harlem in 1988-1994 with 47!
Did you know that there are nearly 1 million boys playing high school football in the US last year (971,335).
Did you know that there are 542 Illinois high schools playing football in Illinois. That's only half as many as in Texas which has 1,075 schools with football.
Of those 542 schools only 192 make the playoffs.
When Kaneland fell behind 10-7 in the second quarter of their game with Ridgewood it was the only time in the regular season the Knights were behind.
Then when Kaneland trailed with less than two minutes to go in the same game it was the only time they ever have trailed in the fourth quarter during their two season long winning streak.
However, it happened again against Spring Valley Hall in the fourth round of the playoffs as the Knights trailed 21-20 at halftime. But on the first play of the second half P.J. Fleck scored a touchdown and Knights never trailed again.
Moreover, in the last two years, only two games were undecided until the last second. Both of those games were against Ridgewood.
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Charting the Knights |
In the last three regular season games last year and five of twelve games this year, plus the first playoff game this year, the Knights have out scored their opponents by more than 40 points in each game, causing the scorekeepers to institute the running clock rule. In an entirely new look at High school football stats we chart when the running clock starts for each game.
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| Hers cher |
Ever Park |
West mont |
Mar engo |
Syca more |
Elm wood |
West mont |
Wilm ingtn |
Half | |
| 19:30 | 17:07 | 21:09 | 17:20 | 19:29 | 19:07 | 24:00 | 7:29 | 24:00 |
When Coach Brett Nelson from Evergreen Park was asked if he was looking forward for a chance in the playoffs to redeem his teams' earlier regular season loss to Kaneland.
He replied with a smile, "No, I can wait"!
The quote of the year came from Sycamore head coach Daryl Graves who's team came into Kaneland country for the second game of the year with high expectations and ended up getting beat 42-0, said, "All I want to do is to get out of town."
The second best quote of the year belonged to Coach Jim Walker of the Westmont Sentinels when he said, "I told my kids to look at this game as a privilege. You rarely get to play the best team in the state."
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