Knights grind out hard-fought win
By ERIC VAN DRIL
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sports@daily-chronicle.com
YORKVILLE – On a cold night on an incredibly muddy field, the Kaneland football team rode a conservative gameplan and suffocating defensive performance to a 10-0 win against Yorkville on Friday night.
The win assures the Knights (6-3, 5-2 WSC) a spot in the postseason when the IHSA releases playoff pairings tonight.
Offensively, the Knights were led by effective play from junior quarterback Joe Camiliere, who ran for 38 yards on 24 carries and threw 11 completions for 103 yards. The most important statistic of the Knights’ night, however, was zero turnovers committed.
“We knew coming in the field was going to be bad,” Camiliere said. “We did a good job of running the ball, getting the chains moving and keeping the clock moving. Now we showed we can run the ball a little bit, so we showed we have some balance.”
Camiliere was supported in the running game by bruising running back Blake Serpa, who carried the ball 15 times for 76 yards. Serpa scored the game's lone touchdown on a 3-yard run at the beginning of the second quarter.
“It’s definitely a great asset that we can run the ball,” Camiliere said. “Our defense did a great job getting us a short field all day long and we used that to our advantage.”
Though the conditions hurt the strengths of Kaneland’s offense, the Knights’ defense was dominant on the muddy field.
Kaneland’s defense took advantage of the absence of Yorkville starting quarterback Luke Parece, who missed the game because of illness. When backup Adam Gilbert proved to be unable to handle throwing in the atrocious conditions early in the game, the Kaneland defense stacked the line and shut down Yorkville’s offensive attack.
Yorkville (3-6, 2-4 WSC) had only 69 yards and one first down in the entire game.
“We knew, after playing all these rain games, that we’ve got to take care of it and play good defense,” Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. “I’m really proud with how we played tonight.”
The shutout was the first for Kaneland's defense since an opening week blanking of Burlington Central.
KANELAND 10, YORKVILLE 0
Kaneland 0 7 0 3 – 10
Yorkville 0 0 0 0 – 0
Second quarter
KAN – Serpa 3-yard (Swieca PAT), 11:55.
Fourth quarter
KAN – Swieca 19-yard FG, 5:28.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTISCS
RUSHING – Kaneland: Serpa 15-76, Camiliere 24-38, Andrews 7-24. Totals: 46-138.
Yorkville: LaMantia 10-39, Parker 4-6, Gilbert 3-5, Anderson 1-3, Richardson 1- -2.
PASSING – Kaneland: Camiliere 11-15-0-103. Yorkville: Gillette 2-2-0-12, Gilbert 1-6-0-6.
RECEIVING – Kaneland: Callaghan 2-38, Bailey 4-20, Buschbacher 2-29, Andrews 2-16, Serpa 1-0. Totals: 11-103. Yorkville: Richardson 2-14, Eaton 1-4. Totals: 3-18.
TOTAL YARDS: Kaneland: 241, Yorkville: 69.
Sophomore game: Kaneland 22, Yorkville 14.
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