Burlington Central still looking for win

BURLINGTON – Even if Burlington Central had to squint to see the silver lining of Friday's 40-9 loss to Sycamore, the Rockets still found it.

Central's offense showed more consistency than it did a week ago, and did it against a Spartans team that might be the biggest and most athletic the Rockets (0-2) will see this season.

"It's definitely going to get us more prepared," Central quarterback Tim Maroder said. "We never want to come out 0-2, especially with two losses like this, but we can't get down because (Sycamore) is a whole different caliber team than we're going to be seeing on the conference schedule."

Sycamore (2-0) used big plays to build a 27-0 halftime lead against the Rockets. Marckie Hayes opened the scoring late in the first quarter with a 46-yard touchdown run. Spartans quarterback Ryan Bartels tossed touchdowns strikes of 39 and 40 yards before Hayes ran back a punt 80 yards with only 31 second to go before the intermission.

Central, which went three-and-out on its first three drives, mounted a drive while trailing only 14-0. Starting on their own 24, the Rockets marched into Spartans territory before Maroder was picked off.

Bartels' second touchdown strike and Hayes' return effectively ended the game as Sycamore used its size advantage to wear down Central.

"They had huge kids on the line going against ours," Maroder said. "We did the best we could all around. We kind of let things get out of hand on defense and couldn't move the ball enough on offense.

"We schemed them up pretty well, but the size comes into it at that point."

Central scored a safety late in the third quarter when Syacmore's punter had to carry a snap that went over his head out of the back of the end zone. Evan Billek scored the only Rockets TD on a 2-yard run midway through the fourth quarter with Trevor McMillan booting the extra point.

Maroder completed 3 of 6 passes for 14 yards and was picked twice. Tre Llanes led Central with 38 rushing yards on nine carries, while Billek and Brandon Westergaard each picked up 35 yards on six carries apiece.

"We took some strides," Rockets coach Aaron Wichman said. "We're not where we want to be, but as a unit we played better. Tre continued to run the ball hard and Evan Billek ran the ball hard when he got his chances in the second half. There were some positives to take out of it."

SYCAMORE 40, BURLINGTON CENTRAL 9

Sycamore    7    20    13    0   --   40

BC              0     0      2     7   --     9

SYC – Hayes 46 run (Kroeger kick), 3:57

SYC – Compher 39 pass from Bartels (Kroeger kick), 10:35

SYC – Ray 41 pass from Bartels (kick blocked), 4:32

SYC – Hayes 80 punt return (Kroeger kick), :31

SYC – Bartels 1 run (kick failed), 9:10

SYC – Dougherty 25 run (Kroeger kick), 7:34

BC – Safety, 1:20

BC – Billek 1 run (McMillan kick), 6:35

Team statistics        SYC             BC

First Downs                15                  6

Comp-Att-Int           4-6-0           6-12-2

Passing yards              98                  22

Rushing att-yds         30-197          32-111

Fumbles-lost             1-0                  2-0

Penalties-yards          4-30               5-32

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING

Sycamore: Hayes 7-120, Dougherty 5-28, Bartels 6-23, Eby 3-20, Ray 1-6, Mathey 4-6, Nice 3-0, Compher 1-(-6).

Burlington Central: Lianes 9-38, Westergaard 6-35, Billek 6-35, Cardenas 4-4, Maroder 7-(-1).

PASSING

Sycamore: Bartels 4-6-0 98.

Burlington Central: Maroder 6-12-2 22.

RECEIVING

Sycamore: Ray 2-42, Compher 1-39, Hayes 1-17.

Burlington Central: Lianes 2-5, Kellish 4-17.