Kaneland crushes Brooks in Ryan's 1st game
Kaneland kicked off its season - and a new coaching era - in dominating fashion at Peterson Field Friday night.
The Knights scored touchdowns on their first eight possessions, building leads of 35-0 after one quarter and 56-0 at halftime on their way to a 56-16 victory over Brooks.
After the win, athletic director Peter Goff gave first-year coach Pat Ryan the game ball, then the entire team posed for a photo under the scoreboard. Ryan had been an assistant on former coach Tom Fedderly's staff the past nine years.
"It feels good to have it under our belts," Ryan said. "Our kids played well. That first half our kids came out ready to go, chomping at the bit. Now next week (at Geneva) it's not going to get any easier."
Senior quarterback Jack Douglas completed 7 of 8 passes for 170 yards and 3 touchdowns before coming out of the game with six minutes left in the first half. His only incompletion came when Josh Marczuk couldn't quite keep possession on a diving attempt of a long pass down the left sideline.
Douglas was far from the only star. Marczuk got the scoring started on a 19-yard screen pass with 10:38 left in the first quarter; later he added a 25-yard touchdown reception. Alex Moses made it 14-0 less than four minutes into the game with a 56-yard touchdown reception over the middle.
"We didn't want to give a lot away in our first game," Douglas said. "We scored early and often. That was really good."
Kaneland (1-0) also moved the ball at will on the ground behind linemen Robert Kruse, Matt Payton, Calvin McDonald, Clark Jackson and Drew Hahn.
Johnathan Alstott rushed for 103 yards and 2 touchdowns on 8 carries. Trevor Jones and Chaz Shaw also ran for scores in the second quarter.
Kaneland finished with 370 yards of offense split nearly evenly between the run (200) and pass (170).
"We executed the way we wanted," Ryan said.
The Knights were just as impressive defensively, led by defensive lineman Jacob Brown. The senior had 3 sacks, recovered a fumble and also scored a touchdown as an offensive lineman when he recovered another fumble at the 2-yard line and dove into the end zone.
"Jacob plays with such a high motor all the time, in practice, in games," Ryan said. "He just absolutely loves to play. The whole defense played like that. A lot of swarming around the ball."
One of only two starters back on defense, Brown said he prefers to let his play set the tone.
"I just kept my gap," Brown said. "I was worrying about my responsibilities and my responsibilities only. I kind of lead by example. I don't really talk to the guys. I thought we did really good. We read our keys and our secondary did really good at not letting any passes up."
One of those players in the secondary, Demetri Matarangas, added an interception.
Kaneland held Brooks (0-1) to 7 net yards of offense in the first half before the Eagles scored a pair of second half touchdowns against Kaneland's backups.
Andreas Matarangas and Brian Bartholemew split the kicking duties for Kaneland, each going 4-for-4 on extra points and alternating attempts.