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Kaneland downs LaSalle-Peru

With his offensive line paving the way, Kaneland senior quarterback Jake Marczuk carved his way through the LaSalle-Peru defense.

Marczuk ripped off scoring runs of 29, 45 and 44 yards as the Knights secured their all-important fifth victory - a convincing 31-12 Northern Illinois Big 12 crossover decision on Senior Night in Maple Park.

Marczuk finished with 175 yards rushing on 20 carries for Kaneland (5-3) and efficiently completed 11-of-15 passes for 123 yards.

Freshman Jonathan Alstott added 92 yards on the ground and opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.

Marczuk was quick to credit starting linemen Nick Soucie, Andrew Kray, Tristan Kinder, Matthew Payton and Hunter Regelbrugge for his success.

"The guys were setting me up to make plays and I couldn't thank them enough," Marczuk said. "They definitely came out and proved who was the better line."

"We just told the kids that we were really happy with their play up front. When we can play like that we can both run and pass effectively," Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said.

The Knights' defense also came up with huge stops, turning away the Cavaliers twice on downs when facing first-and-goal situations.

"It seemed like we were on defense that whole second half and those kids were out there a long time but didn't give anything up," Fedderly said.

On its second drive of the game, LaSalle-Peru (3-5) marched 54 yards down to the Knights' 7-yard-line, but Kray and Isaiah Baerenklau broke up passes and Kray hauled down quarterback Kennedy Carey on a fourth down scramble.

Kaneland promptly engineered a textbook 94-yard, 13-play scoring drive, featuring 33 rushing yards from Alstott, 28 from Marczuk and a 19-yard reception from Tyler Paulson.

After the Kaneland defense forced a 3-and-out, aided by Austin Vickery's sack, Marczuk went in untouched from 29 yards away for a 14-0 lead with 7:34 left in the half.

Drew Franklin extended the advantage to 17-0 at the half with a 22-yard field goal.

The Knights took the second half kickoff and converted a key 4th-and-1 before Marczuk's second long touchdown run with 8:54 left in the third.

LaSalle-Peru chewed up the remainder of the quarter on a 17-play drive, culminating with an Carey's 4-yard touchdown pass to Jake Doyle (11 receptions, 86 yards).

The Cavaliers threatened again on their next drive, but Mitchel Groen batted down a Carey pass on 4th-and-goal from the 2.

Groen also hauled in 3 receptions for 45 yards while Tanner Robertsen had 5 catches for 29 yards.

Holding 35 playoff points with a chance for 2 more Saturday, the Knights would officially clinch a playoff spot with a road win next Friday at Rochelle.

"At 3-3 we were just thinking it's not over yet. We all had faith and we knew our potential. We're pushing hard until the end and we're going to try to win out." Marczuk said.

"Rochelle is a team we have a lot of respect for and we know it's going to be a physical football game," Fedderly said.

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