Maple Park - Ridgewood (2-2) came to Knights Country and for the first time ever the Knights (after a shaky start) easily handled the Rebels winning the game going away 35-7 to start a new winning streak.

The story line on this one was just that -The line! Both Kaneland lines came alive. But the biggest difference was the regenerated defensive line of Chairman Bryan Staker, senior Ron Easto and returnees Mike Sondelski and Shawn Fuller. They spent more time in the Ridgewood's backfield than the tailback.

With the surge of the line a reconstructed linebacking group of Robert McGinnis, Matt Schiff, and MLB Tony Signorella were able to get terrific penetration as well.

It was Kaneland's (and coach Rich Kearny's) goal to stop tailback Jay Holland a 5-4 155 pound speedster and brought the defensive backfield up tight to help out. Holland who usually runs over 30 ties a game already had a pair of 300+ yardage games.

The results were impressive as Holland outside of a breakaway 40 yard run on the third play of the game gained just 67 yards on 27 carries the rest of the night. Stopping Holland worked so well that the Rebels where only able to get just three first downs in the second half. Furthermore when the Rebels turned to their passing game they could only complete 2 passes for 21 yards.

But catch this - with 5 Kaneland sacks of quarterback Jason Jarosz for a minus 39 yards the Rebels were only able to gain 66 total yards for the game. Take away the Holland early 40 yard run and 20 yards lost in Ridgewood penalties and you have a game total of 6 yards for the Rebels! WOW!!

"We looked like the Kaneland Knights again," said Ben Rogers.

"It was a long week," said Joe Coach Thorgesen. "I was so glad when the game finally got here. We were coming off one of our worst games in a long time and our kids wanted to get back out there and show people how they can play football."

"We came out hitting and smacked some people around," added Rogers. "That's what we focused on all week in practice."

But the Knights still looked a little shell shocked when the game started allowing Holland's breakaway run and a 20 yard reverse by receiver Don Sica for a quick Ridgewood touchdown just 3+ minutes into the game.

When Kaneland got the ball back they could net only 6 yards. Ridgewood almost scored again on their next series except a pass to a wide open Sica was dropped as the Kaneland fans let out an "ahhh".

However, the game started to change and after a quiet first quarter the Knights offense finally took charge . The offensive line led by Junior center Matt (how many perfect games can he play this year?) Nelson, and seniors Staker, Easto, Sondelski and Will Schmidt at times looked like they were shot from cannons.

Kaneland	00	21	07	07	35
Ridgewood	07	00	00	00	07

The line made big holes for Ben Rogers (132 yards in 14 tries) and Ryan Schrader (87 yards in 7 carries) who were able to fine plenty of seams to run through. Even speedy Billy McKeown got into the act when found a seam with his only counter play of the night and lit up the scoreboard with a big 60 yard run to pay dirt.

The Knights score three times in the second period. The first came on a fumble in the Kaneland backfield that Rogers picked up and rambled 32-yards up field for a touchdown. The kick failed.

The leading score came right after the Rebels where called for roughing the kicker on a McKeown punt, giving the Knights the ball back just 26 yards for headline territory. A handoff to Schrader and he did the rest. The Knights went for two and were successful as Schrader snared a Dave Issel pass in the endzone 14-7.

The third score happened on a Ridgewood punt that Rogers fielded over his shoulder at his own 17-yard line, turned and cut up field. As Rogers streaked pass the Kaneland bench Stacker took out two would be tacklers at one time and Fuller hit the last defender so hard he still may be found on the field counting daisies. Rogers did the rest.

Knights 21, Ridgewood 7 with the game half over.

By the second half even Kaneland's passing game came to life. Although the Knights could only complete 2 little screen passes for just 5-yards in 10 attempts in the first half they were 5-for-10 in the second half netting 12 yards per completion.

In the third quarter Issel hit Robbie Bieritz from 11 yards out for score number four, and in the final quarter McKeown collected a TD on the counter. Josh Dimitri hit the last 3 extra points to top off the evening.

"We're concerned about 1999, not the streak," said Thorgesen, referring to the 31 game winning that got snapped last week by Evergreen Park. "These kids want to make the playoffs."

Yep coach, the playoffs would be nice, but if the lines keep playing this way the Knights may be able to set their sites a little higher. Stay tuned - "The lines are back".

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In the Sophomore game Ridgewood scored taking a 7-0 lead into the second quarter. But midway through the second quarter Ben Flanders caught a 30 yard TD pass from Kevin Probst and the Knights tied game at 7-7, thanks the PAT by Nate Hill.

The game remained tied with 2:30 left when Ridgewood failed to convert on 4th down and the Knights took over on their own 29-yard line. That's when the fun begun.

A 25-yard pass to Brad Harner, a 7-yard pass to Ben Flanders, and 15-yard run by Andrew Stombres, 22-yard pass to Harner, and a 8-yard run by Stombres.

First and goal from the Ridgewood 7 with 70 seconds left in the game. When 3 pass plays failed Hill came in to attempt a winning field goal.

But, (and yes there is a but) it was defected and game ended up tied at 7 apiece.

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