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Sycamore runs away with Kaneland

Kaneland set its sights on rebounding from last week's disappointing loss to DeKalb, but a desperate and talented Sycamore squad had other ideas.

After both teams punted on their first two possessions, Sycamore grabbed a 7-0 lead with 3:37 left in the first quarter on a 64-yard pass play from Brett Bemis to Jackson Ryan.

From that point, the Spartans dominated play on both sides of the ball and rolled to a 35-7 Northern Illinois Big 12 East victory Friday night, spoiling the Knights' homecoming in Maple Park.

"All the credit goes to them. They made the plays and we didn't," said Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly.

"This type of score against this type of team, you really don't think those things are going to happen," said Sycamore coach Joe Ryan. "Things just got going our way and it was our night."

Kaneland (3-3, 1-2) generated just two first downs on its first four possessions and Sycamore (3-3, 1-1) extended the lead to 14-0 when Matthew Coovert took on inside screen 35 yards for a touchdown on the opening play of the second quarter.

The Knights moved into Sycamore territory on their next possession, but Jake Marczuk's long strike down the middle to Tanner Robertsen inside the Spartans' 10-yard-line was negated by a penalty.

Kaneland was forced to punt and Sycamore answered with a 7-play, 77-yard drive, capped by Christian Pawola's 3-yard run.

"If we catch the ball in that first quarter when we had a couple of drops and we execute better, I think it's a different thing," Fedderly said.

A 30-yard scoring strike from Bemis to Nick Niemann gave the Spartans a 28-0 halftime lead. Bemis completed his final nine passes of the first half for 225 yards.

"I think the game really slowed down for Brett tonight," Ryan said. "We got out of the huddle with a lot more time for him to see a lot of things and he did a good job with that."

Sycamore essentially put the game out of reach when Coovert took the second half kickoff 97 yards for a score.

Kaneland got on the board with 9:14 left in the contest when Marczuk followed a 35-yard pass to Robertsen with a 4 yard touchdown run.

The Knights finished with just 31 yards on the ground with Marczuk throwing for 126 yards and an interception while being sacked four times. Robertsen had six receptions for 73 yards.

"When you get in predictable situations with some of the athletes they have, they can just let them loose and that's what happens," Fedderly said.

Kaneland travels to Morris (3-3, 0-2) next week hoping to end a two-game slide and solidify their playoff chances.

"We'll go back and we'll try to make as many adjustments as we can. There's a lot of football left to play and our kids will bounce back," Fedderly said.

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