Kaneland avenges loss to Huntley
As far as the Kaneland football team is concerned, any comparison to 2006 is a good thing.
A conference championship, a state semifinalist - matching those memorable feats still has to wait. But a 40-12 thumping of Huntley Friday night does give the Knights something no other Kaneland team has done since 2006, and that's a 2-0 start to the season.
Kaneland (2-0) got there by reversing a frustrating 17-14 loss to Huntley (0-2) a year ago, a game the Knights turned the ball 5 times. Quarterback Joe Camiliere, who threw his only 3 interceptions of the season in this matchup last year, symbolized the turnaround Friday with 5 touchdowns, three on the ground and two in the air.
"We just wanted to clean up our stuff and get our plays run well," said Camiliere, who completed 8 of 12 passes for 145 yards and carried 17 times for 143 yards.
"We were excited to play. We know it is a great program, great competition. We just came out and executed well. We're real excited to get things rolling. I feel this could be a real momentum changer for the season."
It didn't take long for Kaneland to get the momentum Friday. Huntley held the Knights on the opening drive, then Kaneland scored on its next four possessions.
Blake Serpa powered in from 2 yards out for the first touchdown, a short field set up by Quinn Buschbacher's 25-yard punt return. Camiliere found Kyle Davidson on a 20-yard strike to make it 14-0 with 10:51 left in the first quarter.
A pair of Camiliere touchdown runs, from 7 and 42 yards out, gave the Knights a 27-0 lead with 5:40 left before halftime. At that point Huntley still had not picked up a first down - the Red Raiders finished with just 1 for the half.
"Defense we stepped up really big," Kaneland linebacker Taylor Andrews said. "We came and hit hard, filled our holes and the biggest key we work on is everyone do their job. Eleven guys do their job. And that's what we did. Last year we didn't come physical and this year we really brought it and proved ourselves."
About the only thing that went right for Huntley in the first half came when Dylan Neukrich broke free from Camiliere's blind side and forced a fumble. Anthony Andolino recovered giving Huntley first down at Kaneland's 17. But two plays later Kaneland had the ball back thanks to Tyler Callaghan's strip and Andrews' fumble recovery. Omarr Maldonado also forced a fumble for the Knights that Callaghan recovered, and Davidson intercepted a pass.
"We got a lot of three and outs right away and when we are in a rhythm that helps us keep going," Camiliere said.
Kaneland went up 34-0 in the third quarter on Andrews' 51-yard touchdown reception on a slant from Camiliere. Camiliere's 32-yard touchdown run with five minutes left in the third quarter put Kaneland's final points on the scoreboard. Coach Tom Fedderly turned to quarterback Ryan Fuchs and the rest of Kaneland's backups for much of the fourth quarter.
"We wanted to come out and show what kind of team we can be," Fedderly said. "Looking at the film (of last year's loss) we weren't very happy. We thought they took it us physically. We wanted to come up and have some pride and rebound off that."
Quarterback Tim Lycos accounted for all Huntley's points, the first on a 43-yard pass to a wide open James Davis in the third quarter and the second on a 2-yard run in the fourth.
Most of the night he was under constant pressure from Kaneland's front seven, led by Callaghan, Andrews, Ben Kovalick, Jimmy Boyle, Serpa, Sam Komel and company.
"They are big and fast," said Lycos, who finished with 70 yards on 24 carries and threw for 138 on 7-of-12 passing. "This year they just came out and brought it all."