BY NICK ALBANO, Editor
“A Winning Tradition” says the sign on the press box at Peterson Field. The sign was recently added before last Friday’s game. With former players PJ Fleck, Blake Serpa, Casey Crosby, and Boone Thorgeson watching down from above, it is only fitting that the Knights would continue their winning tradition by defeating the visiting Sterling Warriors 42-0 on September 7.
The Knights are known for their aerial attack, but on Friday Junior quarterback Drew David only threw the ball 11 times, although 6 of those passes connected for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns. Instead Juniors Jessie Balluff, Drew David and Nate Dyer attacked Sterling’s defense on the ground. Balluff ran for 55 yards and had a touchdown on a three yard rush. David ran for 54 yards and also ran for a three yard touchdown. Finally, Nate Dyer ran for 33 yards with a 21 and two yard rushing touchdown .
Not only did the offense show off all of its weapons, but the defense stepped up to play its best game of the year. The previous two games the Knights gave up 59 points; against Sterling they gave up 0. In addition, the defense only allowed 67 total yards of offense – the lowest against any inter conference rival.
The game against Sterling truly showed how dominate this Knights team can be, after stumbling at times against Chicago Brooks and Huntley. Against Chicago Brooks, a second half comeback was needed to secure a one point win. Huntley almost pulled off their own comeback by scoring 28 points in the second half. At halftime the score was 35- 7 in favor of the Knights, but Huntley stormed back with 21 unanswered points before Kaneland finished off the game 52-35. The Knights’ victory became even more impressive as this past Friday, Huntley beat defending 6A State Champs Prairie Ridge.
The win against Sterling marked the 23rd consecutive win in the regular season for the Knights. The most consecutive regular season wins before this mark was the 1997-1999 seasons. Kaneland will look to continue that winning streak as next week they head off to Streator to play against a program that hasn’t won a game against a conference opponent in three years.
Three games into the regular season it’s clear that the Knights offense will be able to score at will. Last year’s team had over 3,000 passing yards and over 1,000 rushing yards and it looks as if this year’s team is capable of the same feat. What will decide if this team is capable of doing great things in the playoffs is their defense. If the Knights can continue to dominate teams defensively like they did against Sterling, then look for the Knights to be at the top of the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference come November., and people will continue to keep close tabs on the team as they attempt to carry on their winning tradition.
