advertisement

Kaneland gets back on track

Kaneland was forced to punt on its first two possessions during Friday's Interstate Eight Conference game at Sandwich.

That's not the kind of start the Knights were looking for as they tried to bounce back from last week's loss to Sycamore.

Apparently it just took them a little longer to get in gear, because once they found the end zone, the Indians couldn't find a way to slow them down as Kaneland cruised to a 42-14 victory.

The Knights scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions from late in the first quarter leading into halftime.

"We've been focusing on the offensive line and early on in the game they weren't quite rolling like we expected," Kaneland coach Pat Ryan said. "Sometimes they just need to be yelled at a little bit and then they seemed to get going. Linemen seem to need that some time."

Max Gagne didn't need any motivational speech as he was Mr. Everything for the Knights.

Having already taken a 14-0 lead on a pair of late first quarter touchdowns on a Jack McIntire 11-yard run and a 52-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Cole Pugh to Ian Diehl, Gagne exploded for an 82-yard run early in the second quarter for a 21-0 advantage.

In less than five minutes on the official game clock, Kaneland went from being scoreless to being ahead by three touchdowns.

Kaneland (3-1) added a 1-yard touchdown run from McIntyre and a 29-yard touchdown pass from Pugh to Gagne in the second quarter to extend its lead to 35-0.

The Knights forced a turnover just before halftime but elected to run the clock out. Then, early in the third quarter, before the Knights even had an offensive possession, Gagne turned on the running clock after sprinting downfield and into the end zone with a 57-yard punt return for a 42-0 lead.

"That punt return was a lot of fun," he said. "And punt returning is really hard. It's hard to gauge the ball looking down and looking back so after I saw the first bounce I knew I could run up and get it, and my blockers gave me a clear view for me right up the left hash and I just went."

Sandwich broke the shutout late in the third quarter on an 8-yard run from Jackson Murphy, but by then the game was all but officially over, as the Indians struggled sustaining drives until the clock was running nonstop.

"Everybody filled their gaps and everybody on the defense did their jobs," Kaneland senior linebacker Connor Collins said. "That made it tough on them so we could hold them to the amount of points that we did."

Pugh, making his first varsity start, didn't look like a newcomer.

"That passing game isn't something we're used to seeing," Sandwich coach Kris Cassie said. "They've got some incredible athletes and they're all over the field."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.