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By KURT STEIDL
Kane County Chronicle

P.J. Fleck and the rest of the Kaneland Knights have another videotape to add to their collection. For the third consecutive week, Kaneland's defense shut out its opponent in the second half. And with a defense that was working its magic, the offense decided it was time to do the same.

The Knights defeated Nashville 21-7 Friday to claim another Class 3A title, and with the victory came a little bit of history. The Knights are the fourth Class 3A champion to repeat and the first to do so with back-to-back undefeated seasons.

"I don't know if you can top last year, but this is pretty close," said Kaneland senior Kyle Schrader, who rushed 27 times for 150 yards.

Fleck added a little bit of history of his own. The All-State senior had 10 receptions for 153 yards and concluded his Kaneland career with 199 receptions. R.J. Luke of Waubonsie Valley held the previous record with 196 receptions.

"I didn't really know when I had the record. I had a feeling I was starting to get close, then Coach (Joe Thorgesen) told me, `Congratulations,'" Fleck said. "It was a nice feeling. I just feel honored to break (Luke's) record."

According to Fleck, the Knights' night was in honor of senior Jenni Kirwan, who died earlier in the season in an automobile accident. "It's all dedicated to her. It's been an emotional rollercoaster, and I'm just so thrilled and so happy for everything," said Fleck, who noticed a lone brightly shining star to the right of the moon as he took the field to open the game. "That's the only star in the sky. That's Jenni right there, I swear. That's Jenni up there," he said.

The Knights, after forcing the Hornets to punt on their first two possessions, took the lead on the first play of the second quarter. Twelve plays and 85 yards after the drive began, quarterback Eric Delaney (13-of-21 for 162 yards) was forced out of the pocket and scrambled to find an open receiver. Fleck was open in the right corner of the end zone, and the result was a 14-yard touchdown pass six seconds into the second quarter. Four plays earlier, Delaney had run seven yards on a fourth-and-4 from the Nashville 33 to prolong the drive, and Fleck hauled in a 29-yard pass earlier in the drive.

The Hornets went 69 yards in nine plays just before halftime to tie the score at 7-7. Scott Barr plowed in from a yard out on fourth down for the touchdown.

"We just weren't executing. We were not playing the type of defense where we're attacking. We were more or less watching, and I thought a few of them thought (Nashville quarterback Kelly Cruser) was going to throw the ball more, so they were looking for pass more than run," Kaneland defensive coordinator Rich Kearney said. "Once we got aggressive again the way we normally play, then we were coming along."

Schrader wasn't entirely certain how the defensive change came about. "I just wish we could play like that in the first half," said Schrader, who added that the coaching staff told them that it was halftime of the championship game and that should be sufficient to fire up the defense. "Coach Kearney asked us politely if we could be more aggressive," Schrader said with a sly grin.

Still, even with the perceived defensive difficulties, the Knights were still in the contest. The offense, which had seven first downs in the first half and 20 overall, struggled against the Hornets most of the first half.

"Our defense kept us in the ballgame," Thorgesen said. "Our offense was struggling in the first half, and we're not used to that."

The Knights drove 68 yards in eight plays to open the second half to take a lead they would never relinquish. Delaney's 4-yard toss to Schrader concluded the drive that opened with a 42-yard pass to Fleck.

The defense stopped the Hornets on three plays, and the next scoring drive was set up by a 20-yard punt that gave the Knights excellent field position at the Nashville 47-yard line. Nine plays later, the Hornets (13-1) found themselves down 21-7 on Schrader's 10-yard run.

The Knights' defense continued its mastery of Nashville for the remainder of the game, holding the Hornets to no second-half first downs after Nashville had eight in the opening half.

"You look at that defensive set with three sophomores starting on the varsity, that's pretty good. It's really a great nucleus to have come back, so we're tickled. We feel like we're really going to be strong defensively next year," Kearney said.

"They came out and took control," Thorgesen said of the Knights. "They're defending champs, and they did the job." As for the defense, "they've improved over the entire season. This is one of the toughest defenses," he said.

The offense held on to the ball for the remaining 7:35 of the game and ended the 14-0 season on the Nashville 6-yard line. Overall, the Knights held on to the ball for a total of 30:47 to Nashville's 17:13.

"Once is great. Twice is awesome," said Kaneland's Shaun Wenz, out much of the season with a severely injured ankle. "There's no way to describe what it feels like to do it twice. The way I feel now, I could have six broken bones, and I wouldn't care."

"I've had streaks going the other way," Thorgesen said of the current 28-game winning streak, "so this is fun."

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