Sycamore uses big plays to blow out Woodstock North

WOODSTOCK — The Sycamore Spartans exploded with big plays in the second half to take down the Woodstock North Thunder, 40-0, on Friday.

The Spartans (5-2) had three possessions in the third quarter and only ran four plays, scoring on three of them. With the win, Sycamore became playoff eligible.

“Our coaches saw a little something in our blocking scheme for our dives, so they did a nice job of making sure the guys came off clean, so that was two big plays for us right there,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said.

After the Spartans’ Lincoln Cooley recovered a Thunder (0-7) fumble on a missed pitch, Spartan running back Nathaniel Altpeter took the handoff on the next play from scrimmage and reeled off a 52-yard touchdown run to put the Spartans up 24-0.

“They were just nice blocks by the line,” Altpeter said. “I’m not going to lie, I didn’t have to do much to get those runs. I just had to run in a straight line and that’s about it.”

The Spartans forced a punt on the next Thunder possession and then went back to Altpeter. On the second play of the drive, Altpeter again broke through the line, this time for 63 yards and the touchdown to put the Spartans up 32-0.

After forcing another punt on the next possession, the Spartans hit on a 42-yard bomb from Eli Meier to Sam Carlson with 41 seconds left in the third quarter for the 40-point lead and the running clock.

The Thunder opened the game with some trickery, recovering the onside kick on the opening play of the game. The Thunder drove down the field, but were stopped on fourth down.

“We’re underdogs, so why not throw out the sink,” Thunder coach Jeff Schroeder said. “We just figured we’d do it. It worked and we were fortunate. We had an opportunity to punch one early, but it didn’t happen.”

After that, it was all Spartans on the scoreboard. The Thunder did move the ball in the middle of the field, but couldn’t sustain the drives deep into Spartan territory.

The Spartans opened up the scoring with a 97-yard drive on their first possession of the game. The Spartans grinded out a 13-play drive without throwing a pass. Meier capped off the drive with a 23-yard touchdown run. Meier took the keeper off tackle to the left and tiptoed down the sideline for the score

The Spartans took their next possession into the end zone thanks to their first pass play of the game, a swing pass to Kayden Galto. Galto took the pass from Meier on the right side of the field and sprinted 43 yards down field to the Thunder 11-yard-line.

Carlson burst through the middle of the Spartan line on the next play for the touchdown run. The Spartans went for two points some trickery after that touchdown. Carlson took the handoff from Meier and then passed the ball back to Meier for the halfback pass and a 16-0 lead.

“If you coach long enough, you got enough in your bag,” Ryan said. “There’s just a few tricks in your bag that you have and you go back through.”

The Spartans were without a kicker for the game, so they were forced to go for two points on every touchdown.