Jalen Byrd, Lincoln-Way Central defense stymie DeKalb in conference opener

DeKALB – Thanks to recovering two first-half fumbles, Jalen Byrd and the Lincoln-Way Central Knights were in control late in the third quarter against DeKalb in a game they’d go on to win 39-6 on Friday.

But Byrd still had a big play left. DeKalb quarterback Cole Latimer hit Jack Rosenow with a short pass, but Marco Oriente leveled him and the ball popped out. Byrd saw it, grabbed it, and took it 39 yards to the end zone to put the Knights (2-2, 1-0 Southwest Valley Green) ahead 39-0.

“Right off the bat, went to my job and saw the ball come out,” Byrd said. “My dude popped him, folded him pretty well and popped that ball out. I saw it and said I got to go get that. Grabbed the ball, ran off and I was hoping to God I could run that ball in.”

Byrd said he did get an assist on the end of the run, with Austin Welsh helping him across the goal line while warding off a DeKalb player.

“I did not want to go down,” Byrd said. “First guy tossed him down, and I’m running in and one of my guys is holding me up making sure I got in there. That’s a true team, holding you any time you can, helping you out.”

The Knights ended up forcing five turnovers in the game, including three second-half interceptions. Two of them came on a weird sequence in the fourth quarter with DeKalb backup quarterback Mikey Hodge in. Jace Crowhurst jumped a pass and took off, but receiver Billy Miller chased him down and stripped the ball, giving the Barbs a fresh set of downs – the interception happened on a fourth-down play.

But on the third play, Crowhurst again intercepted Hodge.

“I’ve never seen that in the 20-something years I’ve been doing this,” Lincoln-Way Central coach David Woodburn said. “So it’s pretty cool for Jace. It was awesome.”

The Knights went up 14-0 before DeKalb (0-4, 0-1) managed an offensive possession. Behind Tyler Tulk and the ground attack, the Knights went 58 yards in seven plays, never facing a third down. Justin Cobbs went in from 15 yards.

The Barbs ended up mishandling the kickoff and the Knights recovered on the DeKalb 20. They faced a fourth down and 3 from the 13, but Tulk broke through the right side, spun, and was gone.

A blocked punt after a three-and-out set the Knights up at the DeKalb 5, a holding call backed things up to fourth and goal at the eight, but quarterback Drew Woodburn hit Kyle Miller in the end zone for a score.

Early in the second the Knights picked up their fourth touchdown on a fourth-and-17 play from the DeKalb 24, when Drew Woodburn hit Lucas Andresen for a score and a 27-0 lead.

“There were two or three times at least we had them fourth and long, and they get a scramble for a touchdown pass in the first quarter,” DeKalb coach Derek Schneeman said. “Second quarter they get a fade for a touchdown. Kid made a great throw and a great play but we have to do what we need to do. ... Right now it feels like we’re all waiting for someone else to make a play. And we need to have the confidence to go make that play.”

DeKalb’s score came early in the fourth on a 10-yard pass from Latimer to Miller, making the score 39-6. Latimer finished 15 for 25 for 119 yards, a touchdown and an interception. DeKalb had 152 total yards and 25 on the ground.

“It’s not effort. Everything that can go wrong is going wrong,” Schneeman said. “You gotta make your own breaks and make your own luck, and I’m not saying its all that, but we’re just not executing. And then there’s some things not going our way on top of that. So all you can do is put your nose to the grindstone and keep working.”

With the defense scoring and setting the offense up with short fields, the Knights had 234 yards of total offense, 165 in the first half. They had 148 on the ground, led by Tulk’s 90 on 15 carries.

After a 21-20 loss to Naperville North last week, the Knights really needed a strong win according to their coach.

“I think we were pretty determined after our game last week to come out and play,” David Woodburn said. “We practiced really hard, practiced with a chip on our shoulder. We talked about everybody doing their job, doing their 1/11th, and they did tonight.”