Winless Elgin falls hard to Kankakee
ELGIN -- Everything that could possibly go wrong on Friday night went wrong for Elgin High's football team.
The Maroons suffered their worst defeat in recent memory at Memorial Field as visiting Kankakee ran roughshod 61-0.
The abysmal performance left first-year Elgin High coach Dave Bierman searching for answers afterwards.
"I just don't have the answers right now," said Bierman, an EHS alum. "If I did, this wouldn't have happened.
"What's really disappointing is we had a great week of practice. Tuesday was probably our best practice of the season. I really thought things were starting to click, but obviously we need to go back to the drawing board and fix some things."
It didn't take long for things to unravel in the rainy conditions for the Maroons (0-3).
Kankakee (1-2) didn't have to go far for three first-quarter touchdowns, thanks to a long punt return, a blocked punt and a fumbled kickoff, which gave the Kays the ball at the Elgin 37, and the Elgin 19 twice.
Kankakee cashed in easily all three times to go up 21-0.
Elgin's spread offense sputtered -- to say the least. The Maroons went three-and-out on their first five possessions and managed just one first down and six yards of total offense in the first half.
Meanwhile, the Elgin defense took a beating, giving up 293 yards in the first half alone. Kankakee added three more touchdowns in the second quarter, increasing its lead to 41-0 heading into the locker room.
"Fundamentally we just completely broke down on both sides of the ball and on special teams," said Bierman. "I still think we have the players to be an explosive offense, but we have to improve on the fundamentals."
Despite a slaughter-rule running clock, Kankakee still tacked on three second-half touchdowns, including an interception return and a blocked punt return.
Elgin's best scoring chance came late in the third quarter when the Maroons drove 44 yards to the Kankakee 20, before stalling and turning it over on downs.
The Maroons finished with just 72 yards of offense, while Kankakee rushed for 342 yards.
