St. Francis surges at end of first half, start of second to break open playoff win at Kaneland

Final score: St. Francis 48, Kaneland 14

Records: St. Francis moves to 7-4, while Kaneland finishes the season at 8-2.

Player of the game: Spartans quarterback Jadon Wilson threw for 272 yards and three touchdowns, and also ran for a score, leading St. Francis, the defending Class 5A state champions, to the victory in the first round of the playoffs at Kaneland.

Other statistical leaders: Tivias Caldwell, Jr., ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries. Three St. Francis receivers each had five catches and one touchdown, including Blayke Lohmann (92 yards), Noah Turner (74 yards), and Alex Taylor (68 yards). For Kaneland, Colton Ludwig ran for 89 yards. Quarterback Brody Guthrie completed 16 of 22 attempts, including his first 11, for 161 yards. Cooper Stombres caught five of those throws for 59 yards and ran for a score.

Turning point: The Spartans scored with 39 seconds left in the first half. Then, after a defensive stop, they scored again on their first second-half possession to increase their lead from 21-12 to 34-12. Wilson’s 47-yard catch-and-run to Turner made it 28-12 just before halftime. Kaneland drove to the St. Francis 17 just after the break but was stopped on downs. The Spartans needed just six plays to score, the last of which was Caldwell’s 64-yard run.

First-half highlight: A 46-yard double pass from Ryan Mullen to Greg Bess-Henning on the game’s second play set the Spartans up at the Knights’ six-yard line. Two plays later, Wilson took it in to put St. Francis ahead to stay.

Second-half highlight: A 77-yard completion from Evan Kolinski to James McGrath on a fake punt. McGrath took the short toss, moved to the right sideline, and outran the defense to the end zone.

X-factor: The Spartans’ secondary, which pulled in three second-half interceptions. Bess-Henning, Turner, and Ty Talton each had picks, helping the St. Francis defense shut out Kaneland in the second half.

The quote: “We saw some things on the defense. We tried to widen them out and put them in situations where they were going to have to cover more space,” said St. Francis coach Bob McMillen. “And I thought our offensive coordinator (Dan Paplacyzk) came up with a great game plan.”

The quote II: “Our O-line is one of the best in the state if not the best,” Wilson said. “They gave me and our running backs time to do what we needed to do.”