Kaneland feels right at home playing Sycamore
A first-round pairing against a team from your own conference is considered a tough draw.
Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly doesn't care if the Knights start the Class 5A playoffs against Sycamore. What he cares about is that Kaneland is a No. 8 seed to Sycamore's No. 9, and that means the Knights open at home in a duel between 6-3 football teams.
"We'll play whoever we have to play, and we're excited that we have a home game," Fedderly said. "That's how we're taking it. We have a home playoff game. That was kind of one of our goals."
It definitely should be. Fedderly asked one of the coaches in the room with him - defensive coordinator Joe Thorgesen, the Knights' former head coach who directed unbeaten Class 3A champions in 1997 and 1998 - what Kaneland's home playoff record is.
"Nine-and-0 or 10-and-0," Thorgesen replied.
"Playing here at our field is a big advantage," Fedderly said. "They're (the Knights) excited about playing in front of our crowd. It's a good atmosphere."
It'll be livelier if Kaneland can reign in Sycamore's outstanding running back Marckie Hayes, who ran for 330 yards against Rochelle and 266 yards against Batavia.
A 2008 all-Western Sun special teams selection Fedderly said will take direct snaps out of a Wildcat formation or line up as a slot receiver, Hayes even ran for 166 yards against conference co-champ Glenbard South.
Kaneland held him to 81 yards on 10 carries in a 21-14 Week 4 win over the Spartans, though Fedderly said Sycamore wanted to emphasize fullback Joe Dougherty and quarterback Ryan Bartels - since injured, with Trevor Mathey coming in.
Kaneland defenders such as Taylor Andrews, Tyler Callaghan, Derek Bus and Eric Dratnol hope to be on their game as they were last week. In a 10-0 win Kaneland held Yorkville to 1 first down. The Knights ran 61 plays to Yorkville's 27.
The effective word there is "ran." Earlier in the season Fedderly expressed his desire to run more, and though he undoubtedly enjoyed Blake Serpa's 68 yards rushing and 3-yard touchdown run, "hopefully we won't have to run 46 times and throw 15," the coach said.
In five games Kaneland has run more times than it's passed. With the spread offense entrenched for years and a quarterback like junior Joe Camiliere - 143 of 232 passing for 2,063 yards, 18 touchdowns and 3 interceptions all against Huntley - that's nearly sacrilegious, poor weather or not.
"We want to open it up," said Fedderly, who said that despite the damp grass, Kaneland's home field should be ready for liftoff.
"We're pretty excited. Now if it just stops raining."