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DeKalb and Yorkville aren’t exactly traditional football powers.
That’s why Foxes coach Karl Hoinkes said not a lot of people thought tonight’s battle between the two teams would be for the Northern Illinois Big 12 East title.
“Let’s put it this way – everybody but two people thought that this would never happen. That’s the DeKalb coach and me,” Hoinkes said. “We’re excited we’re in this position and I’m sure they’re excited as well. We haven’t been the top team in the conference in awhile. Us and DeKalb have to be proud of ourselves to this point. We’re excited, and I’m sure they’re excited that everyone else is still playing but we’re playing for a championship. That’s pretty cool.”
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. in DeKalb. Both teams enter 3-0 in division play, and DeKalb is 7-0 overall. Yorkville’s only loss was 13-0 two weeks ago at Geneseo (7-0).
DeKalb coach Matt Weckler doesn’t exactly agree with Hoinkes’ assessment, although mostly because he said he wasn’t giving the conference title any thought.
“We took every game one at a time. We never even thought about the conference championship game, much less Yorkville against DeKalb,” Weckler said. “Luckily for us it matched up that way and makes it a lot of fun for both communities and both schools. But like I said our team is focused week in an week out and not looking ahead.”
The Barbs bring running back Dre Brown – who has committed to Illinois – and their high-powered offense into the contest averaging 41.6 points per game. The Foxes are the second-highest scoring offense in the division at 29 points per game. Brown has run for 1,334 yards and 18 touchdowns this year.
“We have to find out some way to hold then under 40,” Hoinkes said. “No one has done it yet. Maybe one time they’ve been held under 40. They are tough to stop and we have to play a perfect game, which is within reach. They are a really good football team”
The number is actually three times – they scored 33 in the opener against Vernon Hills and notched a 37-34 win at Kaneland before last week’s 28-27 come-from-behind win at Rochelle. A late two-point conversion propelled the Barbs to the win.
“Honestly it showed the fortitude of our kids and the desire of them to compete and win,” Weckler said. “There were times in that game where I think we could have easily given up. When it came to crunch time our defense made some stops and our offense made some plays to get tho extra points.”
It was the first time the team had come from behind late to win. Against the Knights, they shut down a late drive to preserve the win in a game they led the entire second half. Sycamore hung somewhat close but lost 55-40. The Spartans lost 14-0 last week at Yorkville.
DeKalb offensive lineman Devonte Thompson said the team learned a lot from the dramatic victory against the Hubs.
“It proves you can’t overlook teams,” Thompson said. “You have to take all teams seriously. It also proves we can handle it coming down in crunch time.”
The Barbs haven’t won a division title since 1989, a streak that will end with a win tonight. Linebacker Allen Letter said the team is ready.
“This is something you only get one shot at,” Letterer said. “You have to go out and do everything you can to put yourself in the best situation to go out and get the job done.”
The Barbs will be without return man and wide out Tony Tate for the second week in a row and will be missing linebacker Leif Williams. Still, Hoinkes said he has “no idea how we’re going to keep up” with the prolific DeKalb offense.
“They have a D-I back and we don’t,” Hoinkes said. “They have two kids that can fly on the outside and we don’t. We’re going in undermanned, but we’re going to play it and see what happens. I hope that we play very, very well and represent ourselves well.”