Kaneland becomes playoff eligible

The dark clouds that delayed the Yorkville-Kaneland game by half an hour never left the Foxes' offense.

Playing behind an inspired defense and a big-play offense, Kaneland became playoff eligible with a 34-0 whitewashing of Yorkville in the regular-season finale between the Western Sun Conference schools Friday night in Maple Park.

Now Kaneland (5-4, 4-3) must play the waiting game to see if it qualified for the Class 5A playoffs.

"I'm nervous," Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said of the Knights' outlook. "There are so many 4-4 and 5-3 teams."

The Kaneland defense was spectacular all evening against Yorkville (1-8, 0-6). The Knights did not surrender a first down in the opening half while limiting Yorkville to single-digits in production, and senior Ben Bradford had two of the Knights' three second-half interceptions.

"It was our best week of defensive practices all year," Bradford said. "The two interceptions wouldn't have happened without the pressure from the D-line. I'm very proud of the way we came back after a loss last week (against Geneva)."

For the game, Kaneland forced Yorkville to punt nine times and also snuffed a Foxes' fake-punt attempt late in the second quarter.

After a scoreless opening quarter, Kaneland had scores on back-to-back second-quarter possessions for all the points it would need. Sophomore Blake Serpa and junior wideout Ryley Bailey scored on the ground and through the air for Kaneland. Serpa opened the scoring on a 5-yard connection from classmate Joe Camiliere, and Bailey gave the Knights' a 14-0 lead at the break by hauling in an 11-yard strike from Camiliere.

"We kept taking what they were giving us," said Camiliere, who had 200 yards passing and 99 more on the ground. "The line did a good job of giving me time (to throw)."

After an exchange of turnovers to start the second half, Serpa galloped 46 yards for the Knights' third score.

"They just executed better than us," Yorkville defensive coordinator Dan McGuire said. "They're a big-play offense.

Yorkville had its most promising drive thwarted by the first of Bradford's picks, and Hayden Johnson made the most of his lone catch of the game: a 35-yard connection from Camiliere for the Knights' fourth touchdown. Bailey then put the finishing touches on the Knights' dominant evening with a 5-yard end around.

"We beat every Class 5A team in our conference," Fedderly said. "We think we could do something (in the playoffs)."