Donnelly leads Barbs to big upset
By JAMES NOKES
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sports@daily-chronicle.com
DeKALB – Dylan Donnelly was the fastest player on the field.
And he needed every burst of speed he could muster against a Rochelle football team in need of a win to become an automatic IHSA playoff qualifier. With a monster rushing game, Donnelly and the DeKalb football team pulled off a mammoth upset and beat the Hubs, 23-16, on Friday at Huskie Stadium.
Donnelly had 271 rushing yards and three touchdowns including the game winner, a 60-yard run at 11:03 of the fourth quarter. Spencer Blank-Jones added 116 yards on 14 carries. With a stiff wind at his back, DeKalb kicker Jake Gordon drilled a 39-yard field goal for the final margin.
“Our offensive line couldn’t have done a better job,” Blank-Jones said. “Lanes were open and holes were open that I was able to get to real quick.”
Twice the Barbs (2-7, 1-6) held the Hubs, who two weeks ago had upset Western Sun Conference champion Geneva, on fourth quarter, fourth-down conversions.
The Hubs and their old-school running game designed to chew up the clock and defensive linemen couldn’t prolong drives that would have kept Donnelly of the field as they lost four fumbles.
“We will take a plus three turnover ratio,” DeKalb coach Marty Sanders said. “We had a great week of practice and our kids stuck with us, battled through injury and adversity; we are extremely proud of this team right now.”
With the loss Rochelle (5-4, 3-4) is still playoff eligible but will have to sweat it out to find out if they are post-season qualifiers.
Wearing hot-pink gloves, Donnelly had a dry field to run on for the first time in three weeks and was able to expose the Rochelle defense which has yet to beat a team that runs the spread offense.
Donnelly said they win was the byproduct of leaving everything on the field.
“We played all out and left nothing in the tank,” Donnelly said. “We just wanted it more.”
DeKalb tied the as Donnelly started his crazy-legs running exhibition with a 23-yard touchdown run. Frank Petras connected with Javon Scruggs for the two-point conversion to make the score 8-8.
With both teams chewing up yards on the ground, the first quarter was played at a swift pace. The Hubs had two possessions and the Barbs just one.
A 5-yard touchdown run by the Hubs Dan Ruppenthal and his two-point conversion run gave Rochelle a 16-8 lead.
A 50-yard run by Spencer Blank-Jones, with ample running lanes because the Hubs were keyed on protecting against Donnelly getting to the edge, set up a 35-yard touchdown run by the Barbs’ explosive senior quarterback to cut the Rochelle lead to 16-14 at the half.
The Barbs had bookend wins in Sanders first season at DeKalb.
“We are looking to use this as a spring board into the offseason,” Sanders said. “We want to get in the weight room and push some weights around after sending the seniors out on top.”
DeKALB 23, ROCHELLE 16
Rochelle 8 8 0 0 – 16
DeKalb 8 6 0 9 – 23
First quarter
R – Bernardin 8 run (Bernardin conversion run), 10:29.
D – Donnelly 23 run (Petras to Scruggs conversion pass),7:21.
Second quarter
R – Ruppenthal 5 run (Ruppenthal conversion run), 7:58.
D – Donnelly 35 run (no conversion), 1:40.
Fourth quarter
D – Donnelly 60 run (no conversion), 11:03.
D – Gordon 39-yard field goal, 3:40.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTISCS
RUSHING – Rochelle: Bernardin 26-236, Gabriel 14-64, Navarro 8-38, Ruppenthal 7-37. Totals: 55-375. DeKalb: Blank-Jones 14-116, Watie 3-2, Donnelly 18-271, Petras 1-3, Hill 1-8. Totals: 37-401.
PASSING – DeKalb: Donnelly 2-8-0-11, Petras 1-3-0-2. Rochelle Navarro 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING – Rochelle: (None). DeKalb: Scruggs 1-2, Hill 1-5, Blank-Jones 1-6.
TOTAL YARDS: Rochelle 375, DeKalb 412.
Sophomore game: DeKalb 21, Rochelle 18.
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