Football: Kaneland hangs on to top Rochelle

Updated: November 12, 2011 6:28PM

Blake Bradford made crunch time his time.

With the game clock ticking under two-and-a-half minutes and host Rochelle facing fourth-and-1 Saturday at the Kaneland 19-yard-line while trailing by six points, the Knights’ junior defensive back lowered the boom on Rochelle quarterback Nick Moore. His tackle on an option keeper stopped a 61-yard Hub march and turned the ball over to the visiting Knights with 2:12 remaining, helping to preserve Kaneland’s 20-14 victory.

“My responsibility is outside contain and I knew the quarterback was keeping it,” said Bradford, noting the Knights have become familiar with their Northern Illinois Big 12 East Conference rival’s wing-T attack, having played them before (and winning 35-14).

“We were able to recognize a lot of their plays based on formation. That was one of the biggest plays I’ve ever made.”

The Knights couldn’t scratch out a first down but did take 57 seconds off the clock and force the hosts to use their final two timeouts before punting with the 15-20-mile-per-hour wind gusting out of the southwest at punter Ryan Fuchs’ back.

Rochelle started again at its 34 with 1:15 left but turned it over on downs at the Knight 47 with 3.6 seconds remaining.

“We played outstanding defensively. They played outstanding defensively,” said Rochelle coach Kevin Crandall, whose team became the first this season to hold Kaneland under 30 points and closes at 8-4.

“On that fourth-down play we got the ball where we wanted it. Their free safety just made a great play. We executed, but so did he.”

The win sends 12-0 Kaneland to next week’s semifinals of the IHSA Class 5A playoffs against the winner of Saturday’s Marian Central-Montini clash.

“That big fourth-down play was key,” said Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly. “We knew it was gonna be a dogfight. Every quarterfinal (playoff game) we’ve been in has been a battle.”

Kaneland opened a 14-7 lead in an even first half that featured eight first downs, 152 total yards in offense and 11:11 in time of possession for the Knights compared to six first downs, 160 total yards and 12:49 for Rochelle.

Rochelle marched 90 yards in 13 plays and took the lead with 10:30 left in the second quarter on a 1-yard scoring run by Marquez Felix (12-149).

Kaneland answered on the next series on sophomore quarterback Drew David’s 18-yard scoring run to cap a 57-yard march. Quinn Buschbacher added a 5-yard scoring run on an end-around with 2:02 left in the half.

David, who has passed for more than 3,100 yards this season, completed just 9 of 19 passes in the game for 131 yards but he also ran 13 times for 59 yards.

“Drew has been running great and running more since the Sycamore game,” said Fedderly. “He’s more confident. It’s hard, defensively, to account for the quarterback.”

Rochelle opened the second half with a 70-yard scoring drive, capped by Felix’s 58-yard scoring run to pull even at 14-all.

Kaneland drove to the Rochelle 27 on the ensuing drive but turned it over on downs but followed the defense’s three-and-out with a 54-yard drive that was capped by Jesse Balluff’s 33-yard scoring run.

Derek White’s block of the Matt Rodriguez PAT kick only added to the fourth-quarter tension for the Knight fans.

“We can play good defense when it comes down to it,” said senior DB Jacob Razo, noting the string of four, one-score wins the Knights have had since edging Morris 31-28 in the regular season finale.

Kaneland, out-gained 303-266 in total yards in this one, has won its last four games by a combined 18 points.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.