IHSA quarterfinal rewind: Sycamore falls to St. Francis as ‘exceptional’ season ends

SYCAMORE – Sycamore’s season ended Saturday at the hands of St. Francis, which shut out the host Spartans.

However, Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said the loss didn’t diminish what his Spartans (11-1) accomplished this year.

“It’s disappointing today, because you lose,” Ryan said. “But to be undefeated going into a quarterfinal game and having that at home, winning a conference championship, doing all the things this group did, it’s an exceptional year.

[ Photos: Sycamore, St. Francis football meet in Class 5A quarterfinal ]

Here’s a look back at Sycamore’s Class 5A quarterfinal loss:

St. Francis 10, Sycamore 0: The offense could never get going for Sycamore, especially on the ground. Sycamore did manage 231 yards of offense in the game, but only 24 on the ground.

“We just couldn’t get the big play offensively,” Ryan said. “We couldn’t rattle some things loose for us. It was tough sledding inside. They’re pretty big inside, and we didn’t have a running game today. They kind of took that away.

“So we got kind of one-dimensional, and that hurts us.”

But the Sycamore defense kept St. Francis (10-2) in check most of the game.

St. Francis had been putting up 32.1 points per game but struggled to finish drives against Sycamore. Palmer was 14 of 26 for 159 yards, including 126 in the first half. He was intercepted by Colton Sharpness in the first half. Zach Washington had five catches for 84 yards. His first two catches were for 66 yards.

Jalen Carter ran 11 times for 58 yards. Seth Valeri had eight carries for 54 yards but fumbled early in the fourth quarter. St. Francis finished with 348 yards of total offense.

“I think defensively we played great,” Sycamore safety/wide receiver Carter York said. “We just didn’t execute on offense well. ... We just wanted to limit the shots and make them work down the field.”

York had 10 catches for 138 yards in the loss, while quarterback Burke Gautcher completed 21 of his 44 pass attempts for 207 yards.

Sycamore had chances to score in the second half, with its last four drives ending in St. Francis territory, three of those at the 25 or closer. Three of the drives ended with failed fourth-down conversions, and one ended with Thatcher Friedrichs missing a 42-yard field goal in the third quarter.

The Sycamore offense got to the St. Francis 7 in the final 90 seconds down 10, but couldn’t punch it in, dashing any hopes of a comeback. Gautcher wasn’t able to find York on third- and fourth-down throws, and St. Francis ran out the clock.

York said he was proud of the way the season went for the Spartans, which included an Interstate 8 Conference title, a comeback win against rival DeKalb in Week 1 and 11 straight wins to start the year.

“I’m proud of my guys for putting in the work every day,” York said. “I love them all.”