Kaneland suffers tough nonconference setback

Rich Central and host Kaneland battled each other for four quarters like two heavyweight boxers in 15 rounds. Each exchanging key strikes, while also withstanding their opponent's best arsenal. In the end, however, it came down to two fumbles that allowed the Olympians to outlast their host 19-13 at Peterson Field.

Knights' head coach Tom Fedderly was happy with the fight and resiliency his team showed and will look to emphasize the positives from the outcome over the next week at practice.

"I told the kids that we're going to have some really good things come from this competition," Fedderly said. "We've played some really good competition in this nonconference schedule. That was a really good team. They were huge and very athletic. I mean, their quarterback, what a player. We were right there until the end, but we'll take a look at it and see what we could have changed. This was a positive for us and we'll look at the film and we're learn from it."

Kaneland's junior quarterback Jack Douglas indicated that getting the snaps down will remain a priority in upcoming practices.

"We've been talking about it all year (getting the snaps down)," Douglas said. "We just have to keep practicing it and get better to fix it."

The Olympians (2-1) scored first on a 2-yard run by sophomore Sean Tyler with just over three minutes left in the third quarter. Both teams were held to minimal gains on their first two possessions, but on the Knights' (2-1) third possession of the game, a fumble gave the Olympians the ball on their 33-yard line and Tyler took it in four plays later.

Kaneland struck back on its next possession using two passing plays from Douglas to senior Matt Noel to bring the Knights down to the 14-yard line where sophomore Jonathan Alstott took it in for a 6-6 tie.

Midway through the second quarter, Olympians quarterback Jyran Mitchell found daylight around the left side on a keeper and took it 61 yards to put Rich Central back on top 13-6.

Late in the third quarter, with both teams locked in a defensive battle, Kaneland was able to muster a long 11-play drive for 63 yards that was capped off by Alstott's 1-yard run to once again tie the game 13-13.

Both teams battled defensively once again, and with just over seven minutes remaining in the game, Kaneland was able to drive to the Olympians' 20-yard line. However, a bad snap gave the ball back to Rich Central, which then went 11 plays of its own to score what ultimately was the winning touchdown on a 4-yard pass from Mitchell to Campbell-Taylor.

"They're a very good and respected program," Rich Central head coach Terrell Alexander said. "Class acts whenever we come here, and we try to reciprocate that when they visit us. We've been in games where we lost the turnover battle, so we know how that goes. I credit our special teams. Our punt teams were really key in keeping them down."