Kaneland battles by Yorkville
With a slight drizzle falling and the game floating away, Kaneland was in desperate need of an anchor late in the fourth quarter on Friday at Yorkville to stem the tide of a Foxes team that looked likely to spring an upset.
Instead, what the Knights got was an attack fleet, ready to fire its way upfield against the Foxes, with Jonathan Alstott sailing ultimately sailing into the end zone untouched on a draw play from the 3-yard line with 35 seconds remaining to give the visitors a stunning 26-21 Northern Illinois Big 12 East victory.
"There's a landmark I'm supposed to get to, and I did and I scored," Alstott said. "I believe in all my linemen, and they did a great job."
Alstott's touchdown capped a drive that covered 76 yards and took just 2 minutes, and the drive began badly, with a pair of incomplete Jack Douglas passes. Things improved quickly from there.
On fourth down, Douglas hit Alex Moses to extend the drive, then Douglas completed to Matt Noel for 36 yards and when Douglas completed on the right sideline to Garrett Hukle for 17 yards, the Knights were suddenly in the red zone.
"I threw a pick on the previous possession, so I needed to keep my head up," Douglas said. "I told the linemen we were going to put the ball in the end zone. I trusted them, I kept my head up and we scored."
Time still worked against Kaneland, which managed the drive without timeouts. On the play before Alstott scored what proved to be the game-winner, Yorkville took timeout. From a spread formation and in what seemed a passing down, Kaneland ran, scored and won the game.
"We worked on that all day in practice (Thursday)," Douglas said. "Over and over again, the same play, so we knew we were destined to score on that play."
The Knights are 3-1 after their conference opener and have played a series of nail-biters this fall.
"It's something that we preach to these kids all the time, that we plan on being in close games in the fourth quarter," Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. "And then we're going to win at the end. We tell them all the time that they need to be prepared to a four-quarter game in our conference, because every game is tough."
After dominating the first half with long drives, Kaneland led 13-7 at halftime thanks to an Alstott TD reception from Douglas and a pair of Andreas Matarangas field goals. Yorkville rallied immediately behind running back Trent Delaney, who finished the game with 223 yards on 31 carries and two touchdowns. For the game, Yorkville gained 337 yards on the ground.
But the Foxes (1-3, 0-1) struggled to pass, and after Alstott's fourth quarter touchdown, Yorkville was unable to move the ball upfield and Kaneland had its victory against one of its longtime rivals.
"People doubted us and we're doing a good job showing what we're made of. We're a good team and we're going to have a good season," Alstott said.
Alstott scored 3 touchdowns in the contest, gained 84 yards on 18 carries and added a pair of receptions for 15 further yards.
If Yorkville had a strong ground game, Kaneland was balanced, with 119 rushing yards to go with Douglas' 204 passing yards. On the final drive, that balance was crucial.
"We want to contend for a conference championship," Fedderly said. "We can't look ahead, because the teams in this conference will make you pay if you do. We came here and it was the first conference game, and this was all we could do was win, and we did."