Kaneland advances after unbelievable ending
A suggestion for Kaneland's football highlight film: The Year of Living Dangerously.
The Knights' thirst for thrillers continued in Saturday's 31-28 victory over St. Francis in the Class 5A second-round contest at Kaneland's Bruce Peterson Field in Maple Park.
Rallying from a 31-7 halftime deficit, St. Francis had an apparent game-winning touchdown with no time remaining negated by a penalty.
“To the very last second. It was unbelievable,” said Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly.
“As long as we're on this end of it, I'm fine.”
He was nearly whistling a different tune.
With 8.4 seconds left to play, on fourth-and-14 from Kaneland's 40-yard line, St. Francis quarterback Nick Donati threw a Hail Mary down the visitors sideline, caught in the end zone by jubilant Spartan Jeff Rutkowski.
Then came the flag — illegal participation.
“They said he stepped out of bounds,” said Spartans coach Greg Purnell. “We were watching it right down the sideline and it looked like he got forced out of bounds. It's a judgment call and you've got to go with it. The big thing is, you can't get down 31-7 at half.”
“I didn't even know how to feel. And then all of a sudden I saw a flag,” said Kaneland safety Jacob Razo. “It was almost like time just paused for me a little bit and I was in utter shock. My emotions couldn't even keep up with what was happening.”
Fedderly obviously took the penalty and the referees set the ball at St. Francis' 45-yard line. Donati faded back again for a long completion to James Ferguson — stopped at the 6-yard line.
“We left it all out there, everyone played their hearts out,” said Donati, whose 51- and 70-yard touchdown runs and 11-yard pass touchdown pass to Ferguson had the No. 8 seed Spartans in position. “I'm going to miss all the seniors. We just came up a little short. Had the ball in the end zone and they just took it away from us. But that's life.”
St. Francis (8-3) hit No. 1 seed Kaneland right off the bat, scoring on a 46-yard run by Jack Petrando, who finished with 159 yards rushing.
Kaneland (11-0) reeled off 31 straight points on a Matt Rodriguez 42-yard field goal and 4 Drew David touchdown passes — of 77 and 39 yards to Jesse Balluff and 15 and 5 to Quinn Buschbacher.
Turnovers figured in both teams' fortunes. Sean Carter's fumble recovery and Razo's interception helped Kaneland score 21 points in the final four minutes of the first half. Interceptions by St. Francis' Michael Hanson and Steven Flaherty bolstered the Spartans' comeback.
The teams combined for 949 yards of offense including Balluff's 8 catches for 179 yards plus 93 yards rushing, and David's 354 yards passing. St. Francis' Dan Beck ran for 99 yards on 5 carries.
“I really want to compliment our seniors for their resiliency that they've demonstrated all year, a great group of kids,” Purnell said. “They're going to go a long way in life because of their hard work and great attitudes.”
Kaneland advances to the 5A quarterfinals against familiar foe Rochelle, a 21-16 winner over Sycamore.
“Any game like that takes a toll,” Buschbacher said. “It's a little strain, but it's a minor bump in the road. That's how you have to look at it. We've got a game next week, that's how we've got to look forward to, just keep preparing.”