Week 6 rewind: Sycamore offense up and running, plus some big plays for DeKalb

Sycamore got its offense up and running in a key win over Kaneland, while DeKalb had some exciting plays on offense but fell to Andrew.

Here’s a look at each Daily Chronicle-area Week 6 game.

Sycamore 35, Kaneland 7: The Spartans had one of their best rushing games of the year, picking up 171 yards on 33 carries in an Interstate 8 Conference victory. Kevin Lee had 10 carries, 71 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Burke Gautcher also had 147 yards through the air, including an 18-yard touchdown pass to Crewe Bartelt in the fourth.

“We want to be able to do things when we want to do them,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said. “Run the ball when we want to, take a shot when we want to. It doesn’t always work out that way but it’s a nice situation to be in.”

Kaneland went three-and-out on its first possession, but the Knights got on the board after Sycamore missed a field goal on its first possession.

Carter Grabowski ripped off a 53-yard run as part of an 80-yard scoring drive. Dylan Sanagustin plunged in from 2 yards out to give the Knights a 7-0 lead with 0:44 left in the first quarter.

Kaneland finished with 279 yards of offense but only 105 in the second half. It allowed 193 in the second half after 125 in the first. Grabowski ran for 78 yards, while Chase Kruckenberg threw for 117 but had the two interceptions.

After falling behind against Morris last week in a 50-10 loss, Thorgesen said he was glad his team started better but is still hoping for a four-quarter performance as the Knights prepare to face Rochelle in Week 7.

“I thought we came out much better,” Kaneland coach Michael Thorgesen said. “It was a tight game, our kids were playing hard, we just kind of ran out of juice in the second half.”

Sycamore (6-0, 3-0) tied the score early in the second quarter when Gautcher found Carter York for a 29-yard touchdown pass, capping a 44-yard drive. The first three Sycamore drives started in Kaneland territory, with two resulting in touchdowns.

Kaneland got to around midfield on its next drive but had to punt, and for the second possession in a row a bad snap set up Kaneland (4-2, 1-2) with good field position, this time at the Knights’ 33. Six plays later, Lee scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 4-yard run.

Kaneland got to midfield again, but Cooper Bode got an interception as the half was winding down to end the threat.

Sycamore opened the second with an 80-yard scoring drive to push the lead to 21-7, this one ending with a 5-yard scramble for a score by Gautcher. Two plays later, Bode had his second interception, then the Spartans added two fourth-quarter touchdowns to seal the win.

Andrew 54, DeKalb 21: At DeKalb, the Barbs fell out of playoff contention despite three touchdowns by Billy Miller.

Miller finished with 118 yards and three touchdowns from his eight receptions. He had a 56-yard TD reception from Mikey Hodge.

Miller loved the play call.

“Coach played it right,” he said. “Run, run, run. We talked about it. Run, run, run, and then hit it. It was my teammates, thanks to my wide receivers. They were blocking. That’s the big reason I scored. They were blocking, nothing really that big. They were just blocking for me.”

Byron 52, Genoa-Kingston 0: At Byron, the Cogs fell to the Tigers (6-0, 5-0) in the Big Northern Conference game.

Anthony Gum had a fumble recovery for the Cogs (3-3, 2-3) forced by Owen Zaccard.

“Our effort was there all night,” coach Cam Davekos said. “Byron made some mistakes we couldn’t capitalize on, and they took advantage and put some points up on the board.”

Orangeville 42, Hiawatha 22: At Kirkland, the Hawks dropped their fifth straight game.

Aiden Cooper had 171 yards passing and three touchdowns, with freshman Colby Wylde the main recipient. He had 116 receiving yards and caught all three touchdown passes.

Tommy Butler added 75 rushing yards, a pair of extra points and 17 tackles.

“Overall our offense was 100 times better,” said coach Kenny McPeek. “We moved the ball a lot better. Tommy had 75 yards plus had a 40-yard touchdown run called back. ... And the defense for the most part played well.”

• Shaw Local correspondent Chris Walker contributed to this report.