It was the first game of the 1998 playoffs and the Knights were clearly on mission. The Wilmington Wildcats were the first obstacle in their way. But despite some laps in the Kaneland secondary the Knights easily moved on to round two, as they handed the Wildcats a 54-9 Knighting.
The 54 points fell just one point short of last week's record setting 55 against Westmont, giving them a total of 109 points scored in the last two games. Moreover, the Knights had 478 yards of total offense and averaged over 9 yards a play!
It didn't take the Knights long to light-up the scoreboard. The first time they got the ball they moved it 68 yards in less than 4 minutes to gain a 7-0 lead when Kyle Schrader ran in from 14 yard out.
But, the pesky Wildcats fired right back, as Wilmington running back Tim Talley caught a Casey Drown pass for fifty yards and took it all the way down to the Knights 3 yard line.
That's when the Knights decided to go to work, starting with a stuff by Mike Sondelski for no gain. Then Ryan Schrader and Brian Staker hit Drown for a two yard loss. And on third and goal from the five, Ryan Schrader came up big again and sacked Drown forcing the Wildcats to settle for a 24 yard field goal.
"That goal line stand was a huge play," said Knight's coach Joe Thorgesen. "Just for the fact that we ran the kid down (Talley) and then stopped them from getting 7. That's a great effort by our defense."
So with 3:17 left in the first quarter, the game was still anyone's, as the Knights had a slim 7-3 lead. And that was the way the first quarter ended.
"We got off to a real slow start," Kyle Schrader said. But, once we were able to get a feel, and get into the game we just got on a roll, and once we got on a roll we have so many weapons we are very hard to have to defend."
"When teams are fresh and they're going after Kyle, it's tough," says Thorgesen. "But he's so strong that he wears down defenses as the game goes on. (Plus) Delaney throws the ball accurately and we have the kids to catch it."
But, 7-3 is too close for the Knights as they busted the game open with three consecutive touchdowns in the second quarter. The first TD came complements of Kyle Schrader who caught a little swing pass from 10 yards out. But Josh Dimitri missed his first PAT in two games and the Knights led 13-3.
The next time the Knights got their hands on the ball they scored again, this time on the neatest play of the night.
Eric Delaney swung out to the left on a pass play and while falling down with two Wildcats hanging on him, throw a 10 yard pass to P.J. Fleck in the end zone who with outstretched hands tipped the ball as he fell backwards. Billy McKeown seeing the tipped ball while laying on the ground, reached up and grabbed it in his arms and the Knights had another touchdown.
The Knights went for two points, but failed. It didn't matter however, as they scored another touchdown just three minutes later on a Eric Delaney's Quarterback sneak for all of 2 inches and the Knights had a half time lead of 26-3.
It took the Knights just three minutes to score in the third quarter when Kyle Schrader ran 5 yards on sweep right and it was Kaneland 33-3.
Then with 4:11 left in the quarter it was Fleck's turn as he caught a sideline pass and got past his man, running 75 yards to make it 40-3.
The Wildcats didn't quit however, as they took the kickoff and moved the ball 73 yards to score their lone TD of the night. The 2-point conversion failed, but they had managed to narrow the margin to 40-9.
But, the Wildcat touchdown just allowed the Knights first unit stay in the game longer, and they responded by traveling 59 yards to get the score right back. Again it was Kyle Schrader, as he scored his fourth touchdown of the night making it 47-9 Knights.
The Knights got their final score when Aaron Berkland found a hole up the middle and nailed down 17-yard touchdown run of his own. Dimitri hit his sixth extra point of the night and the Knights had a 54-9 lead and a running clock. And the game!
Kyle Schrader ran the ball 22 times for 195 yards and Fleck had 9 receptions for 154 yards. Fleck also had 5 punt returns for another 133 yards. Eric Delaney was an amazing 14-18 passing accounting for 208 yards through the air while adding 23 yards running the ran in two attempts. The Knights punted just once.
Defensively the Knights where lead by Schrader. Ryan had 10 tackles and 2 sacks while Kyle had 8 tackles. Kurt Long had 9 tackles and middle linebacker Colin Nolan had 6.
Kaneland | 07 | 12 | 21 | 14 | 54 |
Wilmington | 03 | 00 | 06 | 00 | 09 |
The Knights balanced attack had 274 yards on the ground and 204 over the top. Wilmington had half that with 142 and 106 yards respectively. The Wildcats actually ran more plays 58-52, but had the ball three and a half minutes less than the Knights.
So what do the Knights get for winning? A free trip to Mahomet-Seymour for next week-end, which will be the furthest any Kaneland football team has ever traveled to play a game!
For a post-game interview with Coach Jeff Reentz of the Wilmington Wildcats chick here.