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Sycamore hands Kaneland another last-second loss

The 12th man is usually reserved for a boisterous home crowd that propels a team to victory, but with all due respect to the Sycamore home faithful, the Spartans may have benefited from a "12th person" known at Mother Nature.

Sycamore held off Kaneland to defeat its Northern Illinois Big XII East rival 14-7 with the help of cold temperatures and a 20 mile per hour wind.

Sycamore coach Joe Ryan wasn't ready to give all of the credit for shutting down Kaneland's passing attack to the weather factor, but he also admitted that he was glad to see the colder temperatures arrive.

"When I woke up today and saw the weather was going to be cold and windy, I was all right with it," Ryan said. "It's so hard to defend those guys. Tom (Fedderly) calls a great game all the time. There's no tricks. We play each other a bunch of times and you just have to grind it out. We got the win, so that's the main thing."

After a scoreless first quarter that saw both teams exchanging punts in attempt to secure better field position, Sycamore finally found themselves on the Kaneland 27-yard line halfway through the second quarter. It took the Spartans nine plays, but Brett Weaver broke through on the 1-yard line for the game's first score and a 7-0 lead.

The Knights didn't complete their first pass until their seventh attempt, which came on their final drive of the first half. The Knights managed to advance the ball to the Spartans' 42-yard line before finally giving it back on downs with 19 seconds left in the first half.

Kaneland (2-4, 0-3) began the second half with possession and Jake Marczuk led the Knights down to the Spartan 40. Marczuk completed two passes for 14 yards and ran for another 31, but the junior quarterback lost the ball fighting for the 11th and final yard of his last run to give the Spartans the ball on their own 29.

Three plays later, senior Dion Hooker rushed up the middle for the first 3 yards, and then broke it outside to the left for a 63-yard run to put the Spartans up 14-0.

The Knights finally got on the board with just over 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and it seemed as though their offense was finally gaining some momentum. Marczuk completed three passes for 32 yards and ran for another 31, scoring from 8 yards out on the final play of the drive to bring the Knights back within a touchdown.

Sycamore (4-2, 1-1) appeared to be ready to put the game away with just over three minutes left in the game and attempting a 32-yard field goal, but the Knights blocked the kick and took possession of the ball on their own 29-yard line.

Marczuk completed a pass to Tyler Paulson for 6 yards, and two plays later ran for another 8 to move the Knights to their own 44 with a minute and a half remaining in the game. Marczuk completed another pass to Connor Fedderly for 7 yards, and then drilled Mitchell Groen between the numbers for 17 yards and another first down.

Facing second-and-9, Marczuk was sacked by Brett Weaver to force the Knights into a third-and-14 situation with 23 seconds left in the game. Marczuk dropped back to pass and rolled left, dodged a few would-be tacklers, and then ran back to his right and down the sideline for a 20-yard gain and first down at the Spartan 16-yard line with just under 20 seconds left.

With 13 seconds left from the 16-yard line, Marczuk's pass was intercepted by Bryce Hansen in the middle of the end zone to end the game.

"We just came up a little bit short tonight," Fedderly said. "We've had three games like this that have come down to the end and our kids just end up being a bit short. But they fought and kept their heads up. Joe (Ryan) does a great job coaching his kids. It was just a hard fought game that we ended up coming up short."

"Other than the game against DeKalb, our defense has played great all year," Ryan said. "He (Bryce Hansen) was patient on that last play and just sat in that little hole. Sometimes our safeties get impatient and they throw it in behind us, but Bryce just sat their in that hole let the play come to him and ended up with the interception."

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