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Kaneland shuts out Sycamore

Kaneland picked up a much-needed win in its quest for a playoff berth Friday, shutting out Sycamore 21-0 in Maple Park.

The Knights (3-3, 2-1 in the Northern Illinois Big XII East) held the Spartans to 9 first downs and 175 yards of offense - just 38 in the first half - to snap a four-game losing streak to their long-time rivals.

"We just wanted to shut them out," senior defensive back Alex Moses said. "We knew our offense could get something. We knew it would be a tough game. After the 4-game losing streak, it felt so good to beat them. We're on to Morris."

With 6-0 Morris up next, getting a win Friday was that much more important to the Knights who welcomed quarterback Jack Douglas back to the lineup after he missed the last two-and-a-half games with a shoulder injury.

While Kaneland got Douglas back, the Knights missed one of their leaders on defense Jacob Brown (head injury), yet still dominated. Freshman Sam Pryor made his first varsity start on the defensive line and joined Drew Hahn, Matt Payton, Bryce Cohoon, Chaz Shaw, Trevor Jones and company to stymie the Spartans.

"We swarmed to the ball," Kaneland coach Pat Ryan said. "Eleven black helmets to the football is what we talk about all the time and that's what we got.

"That's a big jump from being a freshman playing on the sophomore level to come up to varsity and start in a high stakes game like this. Everyone was fighting for their playoff lives right now. For a kid to step up like that was huge."

Kaneland got on the board late in the first quarter. An interception by Kyle Angelotti gave the Knights good field position at Sycamore's 47.

After one first down on a pass interference penalty, the Knights converted another on Douglas's pass to Josh Marczuk on 4th-and-2. That duo connected again moments later on a 13-yard fade pattern to the right corner of the end zone for a 7-0 lead.

Douglas finished 6 of 11 passing for 44 yards and drew Sycamore offsides several times. Kaneland played the whole game without a penalty or turnover.

"When you miss over two games you are bound to be a little rusty," Ryan said. "We said at halftime it looks like the rust is going away."

Sycamore (2-4, 0-2) couldn't get anything going against Kaneland's defense. The Spartans didn't pick up a first down until 3:35 remained in the first half, and that turned out to be their only one of the half.

"It's been the story of our season," Spartans coach Joe Ryan said. "Defense has played really well for us all year and we just haven't been able to be consistent on offense. You have to score to win."

Shaw broke several tackles to plow his way in for a 7-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, and Jonathan Alstott (132 yards on 11 carries) capped the scoring by breaking an 85-yard run with 1:45 remaining.

"We sputtered a little early offensively," Pat Ryan said. "Defensively we did what we needed to do, and our offense started to click. Our offensive line did a pretty good job before the half and in the second half. I couldn't be prouder of the defense. All year we talk about we have to be fast and physical and gang tackle and I think we did that tonight."

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