Prep football: Tony Tate helps DeKalb batter Kaneland

DeKALB – In his first full game of the season, Tony Tate had the impact DeKalb football coach Matt Weckler assumed his senior would have from the start.

Although he left the field with an injury – Weckler said it was just a cramp and nothing serious – he still scored twice, including the score near the end of the first half that gave the Barbs the lead for good in a 45-28 win Friday.

“He’s not fully healthy yet but he’s probably as healthy as he’s been,” Weckler said of Tate, who’s been battling all season with injuries. “It’s tough for teams to prepare for someone like him, and they haven’t seen him play before. It changed some of the things we did on offense.”

The win put the Barbs (4-1 overall, 2-0 Northern Illinois Big 12 East) in good position to win the conference title as the only undefeated team in the division. The Knights (3-2, 1-1) beat Yorkville last week, and the Barbs beat Sycamore.

Tate ran four times for 44 yards, including a 26-yard zig-zag touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the Barbs up 42-21. David Long – who ran for 211 yards and two touchdowns – had a block on the sweep, springing Tate for the final 15 yards. Tate also had a team-high five catches for 86 yards and a receiving touchdown.

“I’ve been anticipating this and anxious to get back on the field since I’ve been out,” Tate said. “It was definitely a heart warming experience and something I really did enjoy.”

The Knights did a good job of limiting Cole Tucker – who was the Barb’s top receiver coming into the game – to three catches for 28 yards. But in addition to Tate, Luke Davis had four catches for 67 yards and a touchdown

“When you play a well balanced team and a well coached team, anybody can have a good night,” Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. “They have so many weapons you can’t just take away one guy.”

Weckler said he’s not surprised it was the Knights who were the first team to figure out how to slow down Tucker.

“We knew eventually teams would start taking Cole away,” Weckler said. “And when teams start taking Cole away that means the matchups are going to favor us somewhere else. Or we can run the ball as well. We knew it was going to happen sooner or later and it doesn’t surprise me that coach Fedderly was the first team that actually did it.”

The Barbs took over with 90 seconds left in the first half on their own 24. They marched downfield quickly, setting up Tate for the big score and going into the half up seven instead of tied.

Getting the ball to start the second half, DeKalb went 60 yards in 8:48, running 12 plays and converting two fourth down plays to keep the drive alive. They scored on a third and 21 when Derek Kyler found Luke Davis for a 31-yard scoring pass for the 28-14 lead.

“Those were huge cause we knew we were getting the ball in the second half,” Weckler said. “For us to get a cushion against a team I was worried about being able to score fast against, that gave us more confidence and gave our defense a little more opportunity to do more stuff.”

Kaneland quarterback Jake Marczuk finished with 247 passing yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a score on 29 yards. Jonathan Alstott – who also left the game in the final second with an injury and was being iced up on the sideline after the game – had 49 yards on 14 carries.

Marczuk’s top target was Tanner Robertsen, who had six catches for 117 yards and a score.

Kaneland got on the board first with a screen pass that Robertsen turned into a 36-yard score. DeKalb tied it on the next possession when Long broke through the middle of the Kaneland line for a 40-yard touchdown run.

After stopping Kaneland on fourth down, the Barbs went 63 yards, capped by a third-down run by Kyler for 27 yards. They converted a fourth down on the drive, also a sneak by Kyler.

Kaneland responded with a scoring drive of its own, capped by Marczuk’s 3-yard keeper on third and goal.

Each team had two scoreless drives until DeKalb, with 1:30 left on the clock, rattled off a 74-play scoring drive, capped on Tate’s big reception – he was well past both defenders in the Knights’ secondary.