Balaned Kaneland bounces DeKalb

While DeKalb’s offense clearly revolved around standout halfback Dre Brown, Kaneland employed a more versatile attack.

Knights senior quarterback Drew David spread the wealth in a 330-yard, 2-touchdown passing performance as four different receivers finished with over 64 yards.

Isaac Swithers and Nate Dyer added rushing touchdowns and combined for 136 yards on the ground as Kaneland secured a playoff berth with a 35-12 Northern Illinois Big 12 East victory in DeKalb.

“We have so many good receivers out there that whoever I get it to, I know they’ll makes plays,” said David, who also rushed for 74 yards and a score.

“Drew did a nice job with the different reads he had to make and hit the people that were open,” said Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly.

The Knights defense held up its end of the bargain outside of DeKalb quarterback Jack Sauter’s 77-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and Brown’s explosive 89-yard scamper up the middle for a third quarter score.

Brown finished with 138 yards on 16 carries while the Barbs (3-3, 0-2) mustered just 31 yards through the air.

“That’s a very talented offense and they have a lot of skill players that can make big plays,” Fedderly said. “Overall we were really, really happy to hold them to 12 points.”

Kaneland (6-0, 2-0) engineered a textbook 9-play, 91-yard scoring drive on its opening possession, capped by David’s 31-yard scoring strike to Tyler Slamans.

Two offensive plays later, John Pruett broke free down the middle and hauled in a 58-yard touchdown reception for a 14-0 Knights’ lead with 1:06 left in the first quarter.

Despite a pair of missed field goals, a potential touchdown drop and an interception in the DeKalb end zone at the end of the half, Kaneland still led 21-6 thanks to Swithers’ 6-yard touchdown run. “We made a couple of mistakes that we need to learn from. Our goal is to come back strong next week and get the win on Senior Night against Yorkville.” Slamans said.

Dan Hammermeister’s recovery of a Brown fumble led to Dyer’s 2-yard TD plunge and a 28-12 lead late in the third. David capped the scoring on an 8-yard keeper. Dylan Nauert caught 3 passes for 97 yards and Brandon Bishop finished with 5 receptions for 64 yards.