Kaneland strikes early and often
Kaneland has an offense that can put up big numbers on the scoreboard and sometimes it even overshadows what the team does defensively.
The Knights scored touchdowns on their first six possessions of Friday’s Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference game against DeKalb. They added a field goal on their seventh possession and missed another on their eighth and final first half possession, which would’ve turned on a running clock.
It made little difference in a 66-23 thumping of the Barbs.
Oh, and then there was the defense. Kaneland limited the Barbs to zero first downs and just 9 total yards of offense in the opening half. They also forced a pair of turnovers.
“Our defense is getting better every week and the only time they did anything was on that drive in the second half,” Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. “We’ve got some big, physical and confident players and after facing a team like Rochelle last week they’re only trying to keep getting better.”
Drew David may not have been any better than usual on Friday, as the standards for the standout junior quarterback are quite high already. David completed 7-of-14 passes for 210 yards. More significantly though was the fact that more than half (4) of his tosses went for touchdowns.
“The only time I’ve ever seen him down was during the first half (against DeKalb last year),” Fedderly said. “He’s never going to be down for long. He’s someone you can really count on and just goes out there and makes big plays.”
He made plenty on Friday, connecting with Zach Martinelli on 20-yard and 35-yard touchdown passes and with Dylan Nauert on 19-yard and 60-yard strikes. His 60-yard play to Nauert was a thing of beauty as he pump faked before dropping back and delivering a perfect pass. He also added an 8-yard touchdown run.
In fact, the Knights would end up with four players who each scored a pair of touchdowns as Nate Dyer found the end zone on hard-nosed 1- and 4-yard runs while Balluff (11 carries, 157 yards) busted through the DeKalb defense during 14- and 80-yard TD runs.
“We go in and want to have as much balance as we can for the most part,” Fedderly said. “We definitely have a lot of guys that can score.”
DeKalb (1-5, 0-2) was able to move the ball a bit in the second half, but it was way too late to rally and the Knights took a 59-15 lead with 3:13 left in the third quarter to institute the running clock.
“The offense made things easier for us,” Kaneland junior defensive lineman Jaumaureo Phillips said. “We showed we could stop the run against Rochelle and just tried to continue to work hard and I thought we stepped up pretty big tonight.”