Kaneland outlasts Burlington Central in shootout

After the two teams combined for 24 points through the first 3 quarters, Burlington Central and Kaneland put on an offensive fireworks show over the final 12 minutes of action Friday night at Rocket Hill.

The teams combined for 35 fourth-quarter points with the Knights (1-0) scoring 3 of those touchdowns during their 37-22 nonconference triumph.

Held to just 76 first-half yards, Kaneland responded with a second-half barrage fueled by senior quarterback Joe Camiliere (15-of-32, 117 yards).

Camiliere, who added 59 yards rushing on 8 carries, connected with Kyle Davidson for a 6-yard TD strike on the third play following a 60-yard kickoff return by Omarr Maldonado to push the Knights' lead to 23-8 with 11:51 left in the fourth quarter.

After the Rockets pulled within a touchdown on Tre Llanes' 54-yard TD run 17 seconds later, Camiliere capped an 8-play, 55-yard drive with his 1-yard TD keeper to up the lead to 30-16 with 7:00 remaining.

Burlington Central answered with another TD, this time on a 17-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Ryan Ritchie to Michael Kellenberger, to make it 30-22 with 4:40 left.

But Camiliere retaliated with a 45-yard run of his own to help set up Blake Serpa's 5-yard TD jaunt with 1:49 remaining that increased the Knights' lead to 37-22.

"That's kind of what our mindset was," Camiliere said of his team's three fourth-quarter answers to Burlington Central scores. "We were kind of struggling in the first half and the defense did a good job of picking us up.

"In the second half, they (defense) were struggling a little bit but we were right there to pick them up."

Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly liked what he saw from his offense in the second half.

"In the first half, we were real sloppy," Fedderly said. "We had some penalties that killed drives and we had some dropped balls. In the second half, I thought we got into more of a rhythm offensively and moved the ball a little better."

Burlington Central, which lost starting tailback Tim Maroder to a first-quarter knee injury, put 22 points on the board over the final 13 minutes after being held scoreless in the opening half.

"I know we started slow - that was a big worry in the beginning," said Ritchie, who completed 5-of-9 passes for 76 yards and a TD. "But our line started blocking and our option started working in the second half.

"This was my first varsity game and I definitely learned a lot playing out here tonight."