Kaneland makes up for slow first half

Updated: September 3, 2011 1:03AM

The Kaneland football team managed just three first downs in the first half against visiting Huntley.

The good news for the Knights was two of them were long touchdowns to give them a 14-7 edge at halftime on the way to 34 straight points and a 34-13 victory.

“The line was blocking for me all day and I just wasn’t hitting my passes in the first half,” said sophomore quarterback Drew David, who finished 11 of 19 for 225 yards, an interception and four touchdowns. “I started hitting my wide receivers and they were doing a great job getting open. I just found them in the second half and we started hitting big plays.”

Kaneland’s first three plays of the third quarter were also first downs a 27-yard run by Jesse Balluff to set up a 40-yard touchdown pass from David to Sean Carter, and a 13-yard strike from David to Quinn Buschbacher following Huntley’s third turnover.

The Red Raiders finished with three lost fumbles, an interception and put a couple more balls on the ground in the quarterback-center exchange.

“The miscues are just a simple lack of execution,” Huntley coach Matt Gehrig said. “It doesn’t matter how much intensity we have if we put the ball on the ground and get big plays called back on penalties.”

Balluff rushed for 88 yards on eight carries, including a 47-yard scamper around the right end to get the Knights on the board immediately following Huntley running back Ethan Connor’s 33-yard touchdown run for the game’s first score.

“He felt last week he didn’t play his best game. He wanted to come out and prove something, and he had some big runs,” Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. “All I saw was he made the edge and I don’t know who he ran over, but he just put his head down and then all of a sudden I see him down by the pylons. For a sophomore kid, this was a big game as far as a confidence booster.”

David connected with Carter for a 31-yard touchdown on the Knight’s next possession and Kaneland (2-0) never looked back.

The sophomore signal caller added a 10-yard jump ball touchdown to Kyle Pollastrini in the fourth quarter, and slowly looked more stable in the pocket.

“I still get the chills every time I go out there, David said. “It’s a cool experience to be out here on Friday night, but every game I get a little more comfortable.”

Connor was virtually the only offense for the Red Raiders (0-2), rushing 14 times for 131 yards and Huntley’s only touchdown.

Huntley quarterback Jake Brock was 6 of 15 passing with an interception and a fumble, but did add a nifty 16-yard touchdown run with 3:57 left.

“With him (Connor), obviously he can run for all the yards he wants, but if we’re not getting across the goal line it’s not adding up for you.”

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