Tyler Curtis eclipses 100 yards, Sycamore ground attack powers streak-snapping win against DeKalb

DeKALB — The Sycamore offense ground out play after play on the ground against DeKalb on Friday night at Huskie Stadium and ended up erasing a nine-year skid.

The Spartans rushed for 321 yards, ran 28 straight plays at one point, had an eight-plus minute drive to change the game in the third quarter and snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Barbs, 35-7, in front of 8,111 fans.

“It’s been a long time. We earned it,” said Tyler Curtis, who led the Sycamore ground attack with 117 yards and two touchdowns. “We’ve been at practice, all the boys. We’ve been grinding. We did this. We deserve this. ...

“Look at the score. We did it.”

The Spartans led the season opener for both teams 15-0 at halftime and got the ball to start the third quarter after hitting a field goal as time expired in the second.

So after running 24 of 28 plays to end the second quarter, Sycamore opened the third with a 17-play, 8:25-second drive that ended with a Curtis touchdown. The Spartans didn’t throw the ball on the drive.

“That’s how you do it, right? If you defer and you score before the half, which we did, we got three, and then you have over an eight-minute drive, that takes the air out of them,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said. “That’s what you want to do. That’s how you want to play it.”

The Spartans faced five third downs on the drive, converting four of them. Zack Crawford picked up a fourth-and-2 on the drive as well.

DeKalb coach Derek Schneeman said his team felt good after holding the Spartans to a field goal to end the half and trailing still by two scores, but the drive to start the third took the wind out of the Barbs’ sails.

“We don’t have a ton of guys going both ways, but with their offense on the field and what they do, they wear you down,” Schneeman said. “We didn’t give our defense enough of a blow there, so they come back and they score there.”

Sycamore senior safety Dawson Alexander said after last year’s overtime loss to DeKalb, this win felt good.

“It’s so amazing,” Alexander said. “These past few years we felt like we’ve had it, and it’s just slipped away from us. This year we finished strong.”

Sycamore started the scoring on its second drive of the game, pounding the ball with four straight runs by three different backs. That set quarterback Eli Meier up for a play-action pass to Joey Puleo for 40 yards and a 6-0 lead.

Meier threw for 113 yards and the one touchdown plus 51 rushing yards. Puleo had 60 receiving yards, 40 rushing yards, and a rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“Like we said, we wanted to be 1-0,” Ryan said. “It’s always a great feeling when you win. And obviously when you beat a rival you haven’t beaten in awhile, and we talked about that, today was the day that mattered.”

DeKalb reached the 29 of Sycamore on the next drive thanks in part to a big kickoff return by Ethan McCarter. But a holding call stalled out the drive. On the next Sycamore drive, the Spartans went 91 yards in 12 plays, never throwing the ball. Tyler Curtis scored on a 4-yard run for the score after earlier having a 29-yard run.

DeKalb went three-and-out on the next drive, and Sycamore took over with 1:42 left, managing to kick a 41-yard field goal by Kaden Ladas for a 15-0 lead at the break.

McCarter also had a big return in the fourth quarter, taking the ball out to Sycamore’s 40. Three plays later, Talen Tate was in the end zone on a 10-yard run.

“We just got flat-out beat in all three phases,” Schneeman said. “There’s no excuse. We got outcoached, out-everything. They’re more physical than us. If they were to draw exactly how their game plan would go, that is exactly what would happen. They kept the ball and moved the chains on offense.”

Sycamore hosts Oak Park next week, while DeKalb heads to Plainfield South.

“At the end of the day, it’s one game,” Schneeman said. “It leaves an awful taste in our mouths, but we have to move on. We have to understand it’s a long season, and we have to get better from it.”