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Marczuk shines in Kaneland's lopsided win

Quarterback Jake Marczuk wasn't happy with how the 2014 season ended for the Kaneland Knights, but one couldn't blame him if he felt pretty good about the way the 2015 season started Friday night in Maple Park.

Marczuk ran for 126 yards and four touchdowns, and passed for another 225 to lead Kaneland to a 45-22 victory over Brooks.

"We really wanted to prove something tonight after last year," Marczuk said. "I'm really proud of my teammates and the way we played tonight. We worked on it (read-option offense) every day in practice and we really executed it tonight. I couldn't have done it without my teammates."

The Knights wasted no time getting out in front, using the read-option offense that confused the Eagle defenders with Marczuk scoring from 3 yards out to give the Knights a 7-0 lead.

Brooks' first drive didn't start out as well. Stevan Van Horn intercepted a deflected Brandon Simon pass to give the ball right back to the Knights on their own 45-yard line.

Two minutes later, Marczuk scored from 14 yards out on a keeper to give the Knights a 14-0 lead.

On their ensuing drive, Brooks (0-1) managed to move the ball to midfield against a stingy Kaneland (1-0) defense, but a sack by Andrew Kray and then an incompletion forced the Eagles to give the ball back to Marczuk and the Knights.

Marczuk welcomed the opportunity, as the senior sandwiched a 32-yard run between two 11-yard completions to Mitchel Groen, and eventually scored his third touchdown of the night on a 4-yard run.

After the Knights defense forced another punt, they scored again from 2 yards out on a run by Zachary Parker for a commanding 28-0 lead.

With six minutes remaining in the half, the Eagles used two explosive plays to get on the board. Simon tossed a quick hit to Matthew Smith behind the line of scrimmage who then threw it deep and hit Joseph Patterson on the sideline for a 30-yard gain. On the next play, Simon threw another deep pass and hit Patterson in stride for a 50-yard touchdown.

After the Knights blocked the extra point attempt, Marczuk and the Knights bounced back on their next drive that was capped off by a 23-yard run to give the Knights a 35-6 halftime lead.

The Knights forced Brooks the punt to open the second half, and added their sixth touchdown on the night on a 6-play, 70-yard drive that ended with Jack Marshall's 13-yard run.

The Knights added a Drew Franklin field goal near the end of the third quarter for a 45-6 lead.

The Eagles scored twice late in the fourth quarter on touchdown passes from Simon to Patterson to bring the final score to 45-22.

Knights coach Tom Fedderly was pleased with the effort that led to very few mistakes on the first week of the season.

"We're really happy," Fedderly said. "We came out in the first half and I thought we really played well. I don't think we had too many penalties and no turnovers, so I thought we really played clean and that's something that we really emphasized this season. I thought Jake (Marczuk) did a really nice job of reading what was going on. We have some things to clean up and work on, so we're going to watch film and work on a few things this week."

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