Kaneland holds off furious Morris rally

Updated: October 22, 2011 12:34AM

Kaneland toyed with Northern Illinois Big 12 East rival Morris in the first half Friday night, running up a 24-0 lead and threatening to score enough to force a running clock before the night was over in this showdown of unbeaten teams.

But instead of pulling away, the Knights (9-0) had to hang on for dear life.

Kaneland escaped Morris and its packed stadium with a 31-28 win but needed four interceptions, including the second of two by Jacob Razo in the final seconds, to secure the win and the league championship.

“It took everything we had in that fourth quarter to pull this one out,” Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. “That says a lot about Morris. I have such great respect for their program and the way they play the game of football. They have made our league even stronger than it was before they joined us last year.”

The Knights wrapped up their second straight 9-0 regular season with a near perfect opening half. They put 24 points on the board and limited the Redskins (8-1) to just one rushing first down.

Receiver Sean Carter was the biggest of the first-half stars, with four catches for 97 yards and a pair of touchdowns covering 53 and three yards respectively. He finished the game with five grabs for 160 yards and three scores.

The second half, though, belonged almost completely to Morris.

The Redskins controlled the line of scrimmage in the final half and cut the margin to 24-14. But Carter had one more big play in him and it turned out to be the difference in the game.

With under eight minutes left to play, Carter grabbed a third-down pass in the flat and scampered 63 yards down the sideline to push the lead back to what seemed like a comfortable 31-14 margin.

Morris was not ready to quit.

Redskins’ quarterback Austin Feeney fired two more touchdown passes to close the gap to 31-28.

Kaneland, though, had the clock working in its favor. By the time Morris got the ball back, there were only 13 seconds left to play. That is when Razo finally put the hosts down for good with his second interception of the night.

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