Sycamore gets rematch with Kaneland
By JAMES NOKES
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sports@daily-chronicle.com
SYCAMORE – The Western Sun Conference has been granted a stay of execution by the IHSA Playoff Selection Committee.
The Sycamore and Kaneland football teams will square off in an IHSA Class 5A first round playoff game. The No. 9 seed Spartans will travel to Maple Park to play the No. 8 seed Knights at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
No. 14 seed Rochelle (5-4) will travel to No. 3 seed Glenbard South (7-2) in the bottom half of the 5A bracket.
The intra-conference action should reward the team that executes its game plan better; because there will be no surprises.
“They know us and we know them,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said.
“There are going to be no secrets in this game because we’ve both seen so much film on each other. I think it will be an interesting matchup. This is an exciting time because there are a lot of teams putting their gear away.”
The Knights (6-3) went into Sycamore on Sept. 18 and handed the Spartans (6-3) their first loss of the season with a 21-14 win. But each team has undergone a facelift in the ensuing five weeks. The Spartans have developed a dominant running game as the electrifying Marckie Hayes has added wildcat quarterback to his running back duties. And Ryan said Kaneland’s basketball on grass offense has also changed.
Ryan visited DeKalb on Oct. 10 when DeKalb hosted Kaneland for homecoming. The Sycamore coach had pegged three potential playoff opponents and the rare Saturday game gave him a chance to see the Knights in person. On a cool, windy-DeKalb homecoming the Knights’ offense got back on track after slugging through the mud for a few weeks.
The Knights didn’t play their best games in the adverse conditions that plagued Friday night games the second half of the season. Conversely, it was a mud bowl in Week 6 at Rochelle that prompted Sycamore to undergo a metamorphosis into a running team.
“We’ve taken on a different mold offensively,” Ryan said. “They have got their running game going. We are two different teams right now.”
As the Spartans gathered for pizza to watch the pairings revealed, Ryan joked that each team probably had the same reaction to the pairing.
“In the playoffs you like to play teams you haven’t played,” Ryan said. “That way the other team doesn’t know your warts.”
A matchup with Hillcrest (8-1), the No. 1 seed in the lower bracket awaits the winner of the Sycamore/Kaneland showdown. The Hawks are from far-south suburban Country Club Hills.
If Sycamore wins, they would host Hillcrest in Round 2 while Kaneland would travel to Hillcrest, a team that plays in the Blue Division of the South Suburban Conference, where it is one of three teams (Oak Forest and Lemont) with 8-1 marks.
Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly did not return phone calls from the Daily Chronicle on Saturday and Sunday for comment.
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