Kaneland routs Rochelle
After watching Kaneland dominate the showdown of Northern Illinois Big 12 East unbeatens 34-6 Friday in Rochelle, Hubs coach Kevin Crandall reflected on a similar run his own program had to the Knights’ current streak of 24 straight regular season wins.
“We had one of these in the late 90s, 2000s, you couldn’t beat us, and he’s got his little run,” Crandall said of Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly. “But it’s about over. One more year.”
That, of course, remains to be seen. But the Knights (5-0, 1-0) certainly are on a roll now — losing only to Montini since 2009 — and they couldn’t be off to a much better start in their bid for a third straight conference title.
“We knew we were the better team coming in but we just had to show everybody,” said junior linebacker Gary Koehring whose unit held the Hubs to 140 yards of offense.
Kaneland got to halftime with a mere two first downs. But the Knights made the most of those two plays, turning a missed tackle into an 86-yard touchdown pass and a blown coverage into a 61-yard strike.
“They are really, really good, they are going to make their plays,” Crandall said. “They didn’t sustain anything but they made two big plays and then dominated in the second half like they should have the entire game probably.”
Those big plays put the Knights up 14-0 at halftime. That makes it hard for any team to come back especially the run-heavy Hubs who completed 1 of 5 passes Friday for 10 yards.
“We’ve got some explosive guys on the outside and our line has been blocking really well,” Kaneland quarterback Drew David said. “When they give me lots of time and I’m able to get it out to those guys, they have the potential to take it all the way every single time.”
Rochelle (4-1, 0-1) held Kaneland in check nearly the entire first half. The Knights punted all three times they had the ball in the first quarter.
Rochelle had outgained Kaneland 52-7 in a 0-0 game midway through the second quarter when Dylan Nauert took a short pass from David, broke a tackle and sprinted down the right sideline for an 86-yard touchdown and 7-0 lead with 6:49 remaining in the first half.
Kaneland’s defense stopped the Hubs two more times in the second quarter. Facing a 2nd-and-23, David found a wide-open Jesse Balluff matched up with a linebacker. Balluff went untouched 61 yards to put the Knights up 14-0 at halftime.
After running the ball just three times in the first half, a more balanced Knights got short touchdown runs in the second half from Balluff and Nate Dyer to go with David’s second touchdown pass to Nauert. That broke open what had been a 14-6 game when the Hubs scored their only touchdown with 2:41 remaining in the third quarter.
It took less than four minutes after Rochelle’s touchdown for the Knights to score twice and lead 28-6.
“Considering the differential in size and talent I thought our kids played really, really well,” Crandall said. “The key there is defensively their second and third level kids are so good, their safeties tackle so well it’s hard to get many yards after contact.”
David finished 11 of 19 for 262 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Nauert hauled in 5 passes for 135 yards and two scores.
“In the second half we got in a rhythm of being able to run and throw the ball. The first half I was pretty stubborn trying to throw the ball a lot,” Fedderly said.
“I was kind of disappointed in how our offense played in the fist half, credit them for that. But our defense, I can’t tell you how impressed I was, the tackling. We knew we’d be tested against this team and we’re happy with how we’re playing on that side of the ball.”
Koehring was joined at linebacker by Blake Bradford, Ryan Lawrence, Dan Goress, Kory Harner and Sam Bower behind linemen Jaumaureo Phillips, Bradley Johnson and Justin Diddell and in front of the secondary JR Vest and Nauert. It took Rochelle 50 carries for its 131 rushing yards — a 2.6 average.
“I love playing against Rochelle, nothing better than playing against the run,” Koehring said. “No one runs the Wing T very much anymore. It’s like old school. We just have to listen to our coaches. You have to know what’s coming, break down the film, read your keys and make the plays when it comes to you.”