And the Answer is......


Sycamore came into the game on a high after handing a beating to DeKalb in the their first game of the season 46-0. They came to Peterson field with a pounding running attack. They had size and they had high hopes of upsetting the Knights. This was the night to see if the Knights could keep ahead of the Spartan attack.

Well, the Knights defense not only held off the big Spartans but they stopped them cold. Allowing only five Sycamore first downs. On offense the Knights attacked with more fire power than the US Army used in the Gulf war, with 4 touchdowns by Kyle Schrader. Schrader scored two TD's the regular way (rushing), one TD on a 8 yard interception and a TD on a fake punt.

In their first game it took the Knights just 74 seconds to score. Against the Spartans it took a little longer - 2 minutes and 3 seconds. On Sycamore's second play from scrimmage Schrader stripped the ball and P.J. Fleck recovered it at the Sycamore 33.

"I was just trying to get him down any way I could," said Schrader.

Four plays later Schrader was crossing the goal line from 12 yards out. The point after failed.

From that point on, the Knight defense dominated the line of scrimmage. It held the Spartans to five first downs for the game and forced six punts. That line consist of a rotation between Seniors Jason Harley and Keith Snyder at tackles, Junior Brian Stacker and Sophomore Shawn Fuller at the ends and covering all positions versatile Junior Mike Sondelski.

The next time the Knights got the ball they marched 69 yards in 5 plays, 4 of them runs by Schrader. His final trot was from 13 yards out for touchdown number two. The Knights went for the 2-point conversion and guess who ran it in - yep, Schrader.

Early in the second quarter the Knights got their first bad news of the season as Shaun Wenz went down with pulled ligaments in his ankle while returning a punt and had to leave the game. But the Knights didn't skip a beat as mid-way through the quarter Billy McKeown ran the counter from 22 yards out for Kaneland's third score.

Any Sycamore thoughts of a comeback were dashed just before halftime as the Spartans called time out with 1:21 left after having stopped the Knights and creating a fourth down at the Spartan 48. But Schrader foiled their plans.

With the Knights in punt formation, the ball was hiked to Schrader who was playing the up (blocking) back instead of to punter McKeown and the speedy tailback sprinted around containment down the left sideline. Then he reversed field to avoid the Spartan punt returner and essentially seal the Knight victory by halftime.

"Coach (Thorgesen) just called that on the spur of the moment," said Schrader. "I saw the tackle crashing in, so I busted it outside. Nobody even touched me."

Kaneland    14 21 07 00 42
Sycamore 00 00 00 00 00

Then with just 10 seconds left before the break McKeown added another TD on 28 yard screen pass from Eric Delaney and it was 35-zip at the half.

Just 4 1/2 minutes into the second quarter Schrader got his first career interception when Spartan quarterback Mike Sheehan (yea, that's Kaneland teacher Dudley Sheehan's son) threw it right to him. The All-everything linebacker ran it back 8 yards for the final touchdown of the night. It started the running clock, this time two minutes earlier than last week.

"We really wanted to beat Sycamore," said Knights coach Joe Thorgesen. "Looking back over the last three or four years, I can't remember being more proud of a group of young men. We've heard that our defense is our weak link, and I think we took that as a challenge. These kids really want to play defense."

"We're starting seven underclassmen and they all stepped it up tonight".

As for the stats they to where one sided too. An impressive 377 total yards for the Knights to only 97 for Sycamore. 14 Knight first downs to 5. Each team had an interception while Sycamore had one more fumble than the Knights with 3.

Schrader ended the night with 143 yards rushing in 17 carries plus 1 yard through the air. Delaney had 63 yards on 5 carries and 103 yards (7-12) over the top. Kurt Long added 37 yards on 5 rushes and McKeown had 33 over land and 67 over the air.

Sycamore head coach Daryl Graves who's team came into Kaneland country with high expectations said, "All I want to do is to get out of town."

And the answer is ....... KANELAND!


The Knights came up on the short end in the Sophomore game 55-6, with Kaneland's lone TD coming in the first quarter by Robert McGinnis as turnovers continue to plague the Knights. The game was still in doubt at the end of the first quarter at 13-6, but by the half that doubt was gone with the Knights down 34-6 as Sycamore scored as the buzzer sounded.




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