March 18, 2024
Sports - DeKalb County


Sports - DeKalb County

Prep football: DeKalb’s state run ends with semifinal loss to Prairie Ridge

DeKalb’s state run ends with semifinal loss to Prairie Ridge

DeKalb's Zuerek Day catches a Derek Kyler pass for an 80 yard touchdown play as Prairie Ridge's Daniel Renteria gives chase in the second quarter Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016  in the IHSA Class 6A semi final playoff game in Crystal Lake.

CRYSTAL LAKE – Despite allowing 339 rushing yards at halftime, the DeKalb football team only was down nine to the prolific offense of Prairie Ridge on Saturday in a Class 6A state playoff semifinal and received the ball to start the second half.

Then the No. 1 Wolves threw a ton of pressure at DeKalb, disrupting the Barbs’ passing game and opening a four-touchdown lead. Although the Barbs made a small comeback late, they fell short in a 54-35 loss in their deepest playoff run since a trip to the title game 36 years ago.

“I always wanted to bring a state championship back to DeKalb,” said senior receiver Cole Tucker, who had 220 receiving yards and three touchdown catches. “But it’s as far as we’ve gone (since 1980), so it was a great year.”

No. 7 DeKalb (10-3) trailed 30-21 at halftime and started the third quarter with the ball. The Barbs were called for two holding penalties on the drive, plus the Wolves’ Joe Perhats made the first of his three sacks in the quarter. DeKalb punted after a three-and-out, and the Wolves (13-0) needed four plays before Samson Evans plowed in from 1-yard out – his fourth and final touchdown of the game. He also ran for 259 yards as Prairie Ridge gained 512 yards on the ground as a team.

DeKalb had a chance to keep pace, going for a fourth-and-1 on its own 21 and converting on a holding penalty by the Wolves. On the next set of downs, the Barbs faced a fourth-and-2, but quarterback Derek Kyler overthrew Zuerek Day. Prairie Ridge added another touchdown to go up late in the third, then another early in the fourth for a 51-21 lead.

The Barbs scored on the second play of the ensuing drive on a short pass from Kyler to Tucker that turned into a 64-yard touchdown. DeKalb recovered a muffed squib kick, then scored when Kyler rolled out under pressure and found a diving Devin Williams for a 19-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 51-35 with 10:03 left.

“We have a great group of guys and we’re not going to give up,” said Kyler, who threw for 396 yards, five touchdowns and an interception. “We fought too hard to get into the position we’re in at that point. So we kept fighting, got the onside kick so we got some momentum and did what we could.”

Perhats fumbled the ensuing onside kick, but was able to recover it. Prairie Ridge then used almost eight minutes of clock, tacking on a field goal with 2:26 left to push the lead to 19.

The Barbs finished with negative rushing yards in the game, in part because of the Wolves’ six sacks of Kyler. Five of them were in the second half.

“We couldn’t establish a running game, so we had to go to the pass; then they started to bring pressure on the pass and that made it awful hard,” Kyler said. “But we tried to find our ways.”

Prairie Ridge opened the game with a 60-yard touchdown run by Evans, but DeKalb answered back with a six-play drive that was capped by a 60-yard pass from Kyler to Tucker to take a 7-6 lead. Evans added a score on the next drive for a 13-7 Prairie Ridge lead.

DeKalb marched down to the Prairie Ridge 18, but Kyler was intercepted by Justin Mikolajczewski. The Wolves responded with a touchdown by Zach Gulbransen to push the lead to 20-7. But the Barbs answered back with an 80-yard touchdown pass from Kyler to Day. After another Evans touchdown, Kyler found Tucker for an 80-yard pass. The Barbs’ defense then forced the first three-and-out of the game, but Prairie Ridge then had a three-and-out of its own. The Wolves added a field goal before the half for a 30-21 lead.

Kyler said the Barbs didn’t let the early interception deflate them.

“It was a mistake – I’d say our first mistake of the day on offense,” Kyler said.

Tucker said the team kept fighting after the pick, showing off how he said they’ve fought all year.

“We could have very well quit,” Tucker said. “But we’re a resilient team, always bouncing back.”

While the Wolves get the trip to the state championship game against Sacred Heart-Griffin for a 6A title, the Barbs’ most successful season in two generations comes to an end.

Coach Matt Weckler, in his fourth year with DeKalb, said the Barbs will miss this group of seniors – which included Day, Tucker and Kyler.

“The senior group has done everything possible and accepted everything that us as a coaching staff has asked them to do,” Weckler said. “They’ve been great leaders. They’ve been with us as a coaching staff from Day 1. I told them before the game even started, these guys are a group of a beginning. We weren’t going to think of this as the end. We’re going to think of this as the beginning of something special from here on out.”

Tucker said the Barbs did everything they could to keep the game close.

“I think we played our hearts out,” Tucker said. “I think the first half it was a great game, a one-score game. Then second half they started going quick, we tried to mount a comeback but was just too little too late.”

Eddie Carifio

Eddie Carifio

Daily Chronicle sports editor since 2014. NIU beat writer. DeKalb, Sycamore, Kaneland, Genoa-Kingston, Indian Creek, Hiawatha and Hinckley-Big Rock coverage as well.