Scouting Burlington Central at Sycamore

Burlington Central (0-1) at Sycamore (1-0)

Game time: 7:30 p.m. Friday at Sycamore High School

Last year: Sycamore 40, Burlington Central 9

Last week: Kaneland 37, Burlington Central 22; Sycamore 52, North Lawndale 12

Outlook: Two losses won't knock Burlington Central out of the playoffs but it sure will make it tougher with the brutal schedule that lies ahead. And the Rockets are faced with their first game in 4 years without senior running back Tim Maroder, who is out for the season with a knee injury. That will put a pretty huge load on senior Tre Llanes, who had 89 yards rushing, including a 54-yard TD run, against Kaneland last week. Senior Brandon Westergard, who started last year when Maroder was at quarterback, will start again. Sophomore QB Ryan Ritchie played well in his first varsity start last week, throwing for 80 yards and a TD and running for another score. "Ryan did a nice job in the second half when he got more comfortable out there," said BC coach Aaron Wichman. Sycamore, an 8-4 Class 5A playoff team last year under seventh-year coach Joe Ryan, is coming off a rout of North Lawndale in its opener. The Spartans, who play in the East Division of the new Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference, scored on their first 6 possessions as Jeremy Wulf had TD runs of 71 and 75 yards and senior fullback Tommy Nice had 3 TDs. "We watched film of their game with North Lawndale and they did some nice things with their running game," Wichman said of the Spartans. "They're well-coached and they have some nice athletes. It will be a challenge for us."

Next week: Burlington Central at Genoa-Kingston; Sycamore hosts DeKalb.