Glenbard South hands Kaneland 1st WSC loss

Judging by the roar from the Glenbard South football team after coach Dan Starkey told them they could sleep in Saturday morning, it was hard to tell what was the best news of their night.

That, or a 21-7 victory over Kaneland on a muddy field on a rainy night in Maple Park.

Turns out the answer was pretty easy.

"It's a huge win for us," said Glenbard South quarterback Trace Wanless, who threw for a touchdown and ran for another. "Their offense is a huge passing offense so it (the rain) actually helped us out. And our defense showed up to play. They felt they were embarrassed all week against DeKalb. They didn't like that score. They wanted to prove something tonight."

Glenbard South (4-2, 3-1) beat DeKalb 21-14 last week without star defensive lineman Austin Teitsma, who was out with a groin injury. Teitsma returned Friday and had a sack.

He also had plenty of help from his teammates, who held Kaneland to 12 yards total offense in the second half and 1 first down.

"They are a great team," Teitsma said. "It made it more fun playing when it was wet.

I felt good most of the game. They were having trouble (with the conditions)."

Kaneland (4-2, 3-1) fumbled five times last week against Batavia. The Knights only did it once Friday, giving the Raiders the ball at the Knights' 21-yard line early in the first quarter.

A key third-down tackle by Derek Bus followed by Taylor Andrews breaking up a pass on fourth down kept Glenbard South off the scoreboard.

The Raiders struck on their next possession when Wanless hit Nick Slezak on a short pass that Slezak turned into a 33-yard touchdown. Kaneland answered with a near identical play, a slip screen from Joe Camiliere to Ryley Bailey for a 42-yard touchdown.

The score remained 7-7 at halftime, and the game was pretty even statistically at that point.

But starting with touchdown drives on their first two second half possessions, a 10-yard burst by John Hentges followed by Wanless breaking four tackles on a 52-yard score, the Raiders dominated the final 24 minutes.

"The kids played well in all three phases of the game," Glenbard South coach Dan Starkey said. "The rain certainly hurt their offense a lot."

While Glenbard South held Kaneland to 29 rushing yards, the Raiders piled up 272. Wanless led with 149, Wentges added 65 and Connor Douglas 58 on just 6 carries. All three had huge holes to run through, especially in the second half.

"Our offense is unique," Wanless said. "Our line and John Hentges really showed what they could do tonight. They took care of business."

After completing 6 of 8 passes in the first half, Camiliere hit on just 3 of 9 after halftime, plagued by several drops including one that appeared headed for a long touchdown throw.

"We had some things open in the second half and they just didn't go our way," Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. "We just didn't execute. It (the weather) was the same for both sides. They executed and we didn't."

The Knights and Raiders are both a game behind Geneva in the Western Sun race. Kaneland still controls its destiny when it hosts the Vikings in two weeks, and the Knights will have fans in Glen Ellyn.

"We hope they can help us out by winning a lot of games down the stretch," Starkey said.

"We've got a lot of football to play," Fedderly said. "We want to get to five wins."