Week 3 IHSA football rewind: Sycamore, Kaneland defenses power victories

Sycamore held a team averaging 55 points per game to 13.

Kaneland held a DeKalb team that had scored 42 combined points in its first two games to seven.

And Oregon and Genoa-Kingston played a game with a lower score than most baseball games.

Here’s a look back on some of the key moments from Week 3.

Sycamore 21, Mahomet-Seymour 13: At Mahomet, the Spartans didn’t need a fourth-quarter comeback, but they did need to prevent the Bulldogs from mounting one.

Kyle Prebil and Anthony Verdone downed Thatcher Friedrichs’ punt on the 2-yard line with an eight-point lead in the final five minutes. The Bulldogs (1-2) could get only as far as the 26 against the Spartans (3-0), who then ran out the clock for the win.

The Bulldogs cut the Sycamore lead to 14-7 in the third quarter, but Aiden Wyzard answered with an 89-yard return. Wyzard started left then cut back right to daylight, needing only to beat the kicker for the score with 40 seconds left in the quarter.

“Return left was the call, and it was a pretty far kick all the way to the right,” Wyzard said. “I tried to go outside, and there’s two guys just out in containment. So I’m like, ‘OK this isn’t looking good.’ So I hit a juke move inside, and next thing you know all blocking is right on top of me. I find an edge to get out, and there was only one person to beat, and I ended up beating them.”

Carter York had a 55-yard touchdown catch early for a 7-0 lead, shortly after he had an interception that ended a Bulldogs scoring drive on the first series of the game.

“Obviously we had two big special teams play in the second half,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said. “You have to win in all three phases, especially against a really good team. And they’re really good. So we held them, they were scoring 50 points a game, basically, and we held them to 13 and forced them to do some things they didn’t want to do, which was to run.”

Kaneland 42, DeKalb 7: At Maple Park, Kaneland’s Carter Grabowski started the game with an interception of a Cole Latimer pass intended for Davon Grant, and the Knights (3-0) got rolling from there against the Barbs.

“All week in practice we were focusing on [Grant],” Grabowski said. “He’s a great player. I was just doubling his side and I made a play on the ball.”

Kaneland’s Dylan Sanagustin ran for two touchdowns and caught a third score.

The Barbs had their chances to score thanks to some big passing plays. DeKalb’s only score came on a 44-yard pass from Latimer to Billy Miller in the fourth quarter. It was the third passing play of more than 40 yards in the game for the Barbs.

“I’m searching for answers,” DeKalb coach Derek Schneeman said. “Clearly we didn’t come out ready to play, and that’s on me. That’s about as poorly as we can play. Hats off to Kaneland because they executed well all game.”

Oregon 3, Genoa-Kingston 0: At Oregon, Genoa-Kingston’s offense was limited to 84 yards of total offense. Still, the Cogs had a chance to win.

Early in the third quarter of a scoreless tie, a flurry of penalties (4 for 50) against Oregon (1-2, 1-2) enabled the Cogs (2-1, 2-1) to take possession deep in Hawks territory. However, two plays into the drive, a fumble gave the ball back to Oregon at the 21-yard line.

That would be the deepest penetration into Hawks territory of the game for the Cogs, who struggled up front.

“Hats off to Oregon,” G-K coach Cam Davekos said. “We didn’t match up physically with them.”

Following the fumble, Oregon drove to the 1-yard line before settling for a field goal from former soccer player Gavin Morrow.

G-K had one last chance with 6:49 left and the ball 63 yards from the goal line.

Nathan Kleba connected with Hayden Hodgson on fourth-and-8 to keep the drive alive. On a fourth-and-16, the pair hooked up for a reception that came up half a foot short of a first down.

Polo 54, Hiawatha 0: At Polo, the Hawks (1-2) dropped their second straight game.

Although linebacker Tommy Butler returned after missing the previous week and had 13 tackles, the team still was without Hunter Ziegler and other defensive starters. Aiden Cooper had two tackles for loss and a sack.

“Overall they were a bigger, faster, stronger team in general,” Hiawatha coach Kenny McPeek said. “Our kids played hard, so I can’t complain there. The kids fought hard until the end. It was kind of ugly at the beginning but got better as it went. It is what it is at this point.”

• More information about these games is online at Friday Night Drive.