Kaneland tops Sycamore, remains undefeated

Updated: October 14, 2011 11:56PM

The Kaneland vs. Sycamore football rivalry belongs to the Knights — at least for the next year.

The Knights remained flawless at 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the Northern Illinois Big 12 East with their 35-21 win over the Spartans in Sycamore on Friday night.

‘It’s a longtime rivalry, and I have a lot of respect for what (the Spartans) do here,” Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. “They have a good coaching staff and the kids play hard. I’m just happy to get out of here with a win.

“It’s a great feeling to still be undefeated and (to be in a good position) to be back-to-back conference champs. We came into the season saying this is our conference championship to lose, but it’s ours to win.”

Kaneland found itself trailing 14-0 toward the end of the first until Quinn Buschbacher’s 45-yard run with 3:43 left in the quarter pushed helped the Knights cut the lead in half.

“This team fights back,” Buschbacher said of being down early. “We are not a team who gives up.”

In the second, Drew David connected with Tyler Fabrizius with a 25-yard pass that tied the game at 14 by the break.

Sycamore (5-3, 2-2) led for the last time in the third (21-14) when Ryan Bartels found Ben Nieman for a 30-yard pass at the 7:34 mark. Kaneland then scored the next three touchdowns, tying the game at 21 toward the end of the third after a fumble was recovered by Jacob Razzo. That eventually led to Buschbacher’s 3-yard carry.

Kaneland’s two touchdowns in the fourth were from Jesse Balluff (2-yard run) and David (4-yard run).

“We were just off in the first (half) of the game,” Fedderly said. “We started to get into a rhythm, and when that happens, we are usually pretty good. That’s the way we’ve been most of the year. We dug a big hole and came back. I’m really proud of the kids and how they kept their composure.”

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