Spartans overpower Knights with ground game

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MAPLE PARK -- There was just no stopping them.

The battle between a pair of 6-3 Western Sun Conference rivals never really materialized Saturday night as Sycamore ran roughshod over Kaneland 40-13. The Spartans piled up 414 yards on the ground on 48 carries in securing the Class 5A first-round playoff victory.

"Give them a lot of credit, they beat us in all facets of the game," Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. "I don't know what else to say."

Sycamore, behind fullback Joe Dougherty (16 carries, 208 yards) and tailback Marckie Hayes (22 carries, 174 yards), got off the bus running and never stopped. The Spartans scored the first three times they had the ball, lost a fumble, then scored three more times in a row to take a 33-7 lead at halftime.

"Joe's a great runner," said Hayes, who is receiving recruiting interest from Northern Illinois, Western Michigan and Harvard.

"(Dougherty) hits stuff inside really hard. He wears down a defense so I can hit it outside and then he hits it inside again. It's really a great 1-2 punch. The line was blocking great and when that happens, it's easy for us to get down the field."

Dougherty opened the scoring with a 5-yard run to cap a 47-yard drive. He piled up yards on quick hitters up the middle all night, while Hayes did his damage running inside and out.

A double handoff between the two after one had taken the ball from junior quarterback Trevor Mathey gave the Knights defense fits in the first half.

Kaneland answered the opening score with junior quarterback Joe Camiliere connecting with Taylor Andrews on a 43-yard scoring pass. But the Knights couldn't get much going the rest of the night.

Camiliere finished 17-of-32 passing for 144 yards with Andrews grabbing five of those throws for 77 yards. Blake Serpa ran 11 times for 54 yards.

Hayes answered with an 8-yard scoring run and Dougherty followed with touchdown runs of 51 and 29 yards before Sycamore went 80 yards in four plays in the final 45 seconds of the half. It was capped by Mathey's 13-yard scoring pass to tight end C.J. Compher on the Spartans' only pass of the night.

The victory avenged a 21-14 regular-season loss to the Knights and sends the Spartans to next week's second round against 16th-seeded Wheaton Academy, which upset No. 1 seed Hillcrest in overtime Friday night.

"We've changed (from the first meeting between the teams)," Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said. "We've given Marckie a few more carries. I probably tried to conserve him too much earlier in the season because he takes a beating."

Ryan was also pleased with the way his defense stepped up and checked the Kaneland spread attack.

"There are so many things they do that just cause you fits," said Ryan. "We didn't finalize our coverages in practice until last night. Finally we just threw up our hands and said, 'Let's go with it.'"

Camiliere capped the scoring with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Riley Bailey as time wound down in the game. Class 5A football playoffs | Sycamore 40, Kaneland 13