If you didn't believe fall weather was here the past two weeks, you certainly had any doubts removed in Week 7.
A frigid Friday featured all five of our local teams in action. Sycamore essentially clinched a postseason berth while Hiawatha and Genoa-Kingston saw their postseason dreams come to an end. Here's the breakdown from all of the action on the gridiron.
Sycamore 26, Rochelle 14: Sycamore emphatically ended a two-game home losing streak with a solid performance against a good Rochelle squad. The Spartans got their fifth victory and will have more than enough playoff points to qualify. Austin Culton was huge, carrying the ball 31 times for 188 yards and two touchdowns. They will go into next week's game against Kaneland with a little more confidence.
North Boone 21, Genoa-Kingston 14: G-K's playoff dreams ended with North Boone's second-half rally. G-K led by seven points, but once again couldn't hang on to a lead after halftime. Not many people gave ther Cogs a chance against one of the BNC East's better teams, but the Cogs had an opportunity to win. It's a disappointing finish for a group that has had a number of close calls this season.
Alden-Hebron 44, Hiawatha 19: Alden-Hebron was under-manned, but not over-matched on the road against the Hawks. Similar to G-K, Hiawatha needed to win out for a chance at the postseason. That didn't happen so the Hawks' streak of not making the playoffs continues another year. The last time Hiawatha made the playoffs was 1987.
Morris 56, DeKalb 27: The Barbs got out to a 7-0 lead after the opening possession, but that was far from enough. Morris responded with seven touchdowns in the first half and won going away. As with previous games, you can see the athleticism and flashes of talent with this Barbs team, but they are consistently overmatched against the vaunted NI Big 12 East.
Kaneland 55, Yorkville 0: What more is there to say about Kaneland? The Knight train keeps on rollin'. They have effectively erased any doubts that people may have had after the first two weeks of the season. Two more game separate Kaneland from another undefeated regular season and I doubt there are many that will bet against them.
– Ross Jacobson, rjacobson@shawmedia.com, Twitter: @DC_Preps
