Kaneland's offense sputters vs. Morris
Morris pushed Kaneland around at the line of scrimmage Friday night in a Northern Illinois Big XII East matchup, and that pushed the Knights' backs up against the playoff wall.
Three different Morris players rushed for over 100 yards while the Knights' offense failed to score a touchdown for the second straight week in a 34-3 Redskins win.
While Morris (5-2, 2-1) became playoff eligible with the win a year after missing the postseason, Kaneland (3-4, 1-3) needs to win out against Geneseo and Ottawa.
"Next week is everything for us," Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. "We are going to have a good week of practice and come out and fight for our lives. We just have to stay together. We have to have a good week and rebound from this and put together a complete game. We have an opportunity to get to five wins."
Morris needed only two plays to take a 7-0 lead. Keagan Sobol took a handoff up the middle, then found a hole down the left sideline for a 51-yard touchdown.
Morris turned the ball over on its next two possessions. First Drew Hahn recovered a fumble, then Luke Calabrese intercepted a pass.
The Knights got on the scoreboard after Calabrese's interception on a 26-yard field goal by freshman Andreas Matarangas.
Kaneland didn't score again, while Morris continued to move the ball on the ground. Sobol capped a pair of second-quarter drives with 1- and 8-yard runs for a 21-3 halftime lead.
"We got a couple turnovers right away that were big for momentum and we got three points off two turnovers which really hurt us," Fedderly said. "They made the next score and it kind of got difficult for us."
Morris quarterback Ricky DelFavero opened the second half with a 45-run for a 28-3 lead. Kaneland fumbled the ensuing kickoff, then later in the half Delaney Stutzki stopped two Kaneland drives with interceptions.
The Knights finished with just 93 yards through the air and 89 on the ground.
"You hold that type of offense to three points, that's huge," Morris coach Alan Thorson said. "It was a great team win."
Morris only attempted five passes, completing one on its first play from scrimmage, but did plenty of damage on the ground. Sobol finished with 138 rushing yards, Michael Feeney had 132 and DelFavero 101.
"That was the plan coming in," Thorson said. "We have a lot of confidence in our offensive line. We have a lot of size. To be honest we really challenged them tonight because we weren't happy with how we were playing against DeKalb and Rochelle. This is a tough place to play. I thought our o-line blocked outstanding."
Morris totaled 437 rushing yards and had 21 first downs to Kaneland's 11.
"They are really big and have a lot of people coming back and that was a big challenge for us," Fedderly said.