Sycamore opens up offense in second half, pulls away from La Salle-Peru

PERU – With a steady rain falling throughout the first half, Sycamore opted to rely on its rushing attack.

The Spartans, however, weren’t finding much room to run against a stout La Salle-Peru defense.

But with the rain gone in the second half, the Spartans came out in an empty backfield and spread out the offense while mixing in the run game.

Sycamore scored on its first two drives of the third quarter and pulled away for a 28-0 Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 White Division win Friday night at Howard Fellows Stadium.

“It wasn’t pretty in the first half,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said. “I thought they did a nice job of defending some of the things we do. Once that rain went away, we felt like we could throw the ball. We have some good skill kids, so we came out the second half and put a little bit more emphasis on throwing the ball, and that opened some things up for us.”

On the first play of the second half, Sycamore quarterback Eli Meier connected with Burke Gautcher for a 29-yard gain. Meier threw the ball six times on that drive after completing 1 of 7 passes in the first half.

He threw a 10-yard pass to Carter York to set up first-and-goal from the 5-yard line, and the Spartans punched it in with two runs by Tyler Curtis to extend their lead to 14-0 with 8:08 left in the third.

After a quick three-and-out by the Cavaliers, Sycamore scored on a 7-yard jet sweep by Joey Puleo with 5:23 left in the third, set up by a 44-yard pass from Meier to Gautcher. The Spartans added one more TD with 9:50 left when Meier hit Gautcher, who bounced off two L-P defenders and took it the rest of the way for a 40-yard score.

“In the first half it was a lot of run, then Coach decided to change it up, and it worked really well for us,” said Gautcher, who finished with six receptions for 169 yards. “We just had good play calls and we made it happen.”

The Cavs, meanwhile, couldn’t get anything going on offense.

L-P managed just 17 yards in the first half and didn’t record a first down until Maalik Madrigal ran for 7 yards to move the chains with 4:31 left in the third quarter.

“We couldn’t get things going,” Medina said. “That’s a pretty darn good defense they have. They have two outside linebackers who can move and take care of things. We have to continue to get better on offense.

“We just have to sustain blocks. That’s the biggest thing. If we can find guys who block to the whistle, we can get the offense moving.”

The Cavs finished with 53 rushing yards and did not complete any of their eight pass attempts as they were shut out for the third consecutive time by Sycamore.

“We tackle really well,” Ryan said. “We flow really well to the ball, and our kids really trust our scheme, and they’re all in sync. Very seldom do we get caught out of a gap we’re supposed to be in, so that’s a testament to our players, but also our coaches preparing each week.”

In the first half, Sycamore started on L-P’s side of the field on its first three drives, including at the L-P 21 on the second drive, but the Cavs kept the Spartans off the board.

L-P forced a three-and-out on Sycamore’s first drive, stopped a fourth-and-goal from the 5 on the second drive and L-P’s Warren Mrowicki recovered a fumble on the third drive.

“Defensively, we played great,” Medina said. “[Our defense] just played hard. The biggest thing is, we knew what they were going to run, and our guys played it tough. Putting your defense out there trying to shut out a very good football team is tough.

“I’m proud of how we played in the first half and the majority of the game.”

Sycamore broke through with a 45-yard TD run by Zack Crawford on the first play of the second quarter.

The Spartans (8-0, 5-0) host Morris (7-1, 5-0) in Week 9 with the conference title on the line.

L-P (5-3, 3-2) travels to Kaneland (4-4, 3-2).

“This was a big win in conference for us, but the main goal is that conference championship next week, and we’re going to prepare hard for it,” Gautcher said.