By Sam Payton, Reporter
History repeated itself when the Montini Broncos defeated the Knights for the second year in a row during the 5A semifinal round, when Jordan Westerkamp made a last-minute touchdown grab to snatch the lead and the championship.
The Knights were in the lead for much of the game, leading 31-28 up until the final minutes of the fourth quarter, when Westerkamp’s touchdown changed the game.
“It was probably the best game we played,” running back and linebacker Jesse Balluff said. “We had a really great game, but so did they. They just ended up making a few more plays than us.”
The Knights defense smothered Westerkamp for the first three quarters, but he was able to make four catches for 69 yards in the fourth quarter to help the Broncos pull out the 35-31 win. It was the 19-yard touchdown pass thrown by Broncos quarterback John Rhode that sent the Knights home.
“He is the best in history of state for a reason, and you can only slow him down for so long,” Snyder said.
The Knights held Westercamp, who holds three IHSA state records for career receiving yards (4,355), touchdowns (66) and receptions (275), to not a single catch in the first three quarters of the game.
“We knew going in that we couldn’t let him go wild like he did to us last year and, really, like he’s done to everyone else he’s played against for the last three years,” Keith Snyder, one of the Knights’ assistant coaches, said.
Kaneland coaches knew that an adjustment would have to be made to the base defense, so they took a linebacker out and put in Taylor Andrews, an extra defensive back, and had wide receiver and linebacker Sean Carter guard Westerkamp man-to-man.
“You have to give Sean credit because that is a tall order going toe-to-toe with the best receiver in state history, and he did tremendously well,” Snyder said.
With the help of wide receiver and defensive back Jake Razo and the Knights defense, Carter was able to shut down Westerkamp until the fourth quarter.
“Hats off to Jake Razo, because we couldn’t just sit in that all night, and when we went to our regular defense, Jake was able to really get after him,” Snyder said.
For the first game in over a year, wide receiver and defensive back Quinn Buschbacher not only started the game, but played offense and defense for the entire game.
“He really did a great job locking down his side of the field,” Snyder said.
Balluff’s early 81-yard touchdown ignited the team; he had 12 carries for 135 yards and scored two touchdowns. Quarterback Drew David was 15-for-27 and scored a touchdown and rushing touchdown.
“We executed the game plan we had in place really well, but we couldn’t pull it out in the end,” David said.
Lineman Zach Theis said he was proud of “just how close we got to going to state.”
Montini went on to win the state championship in Champaign for the third year in a row, demolishing Joliet Catholic 70-45.
The Knights had advanced to the playoffs after winning the NIB XII conference championship, defeating Belvidere 51-45 in the first round before St. Francis almost knocked the Knights out of the playoffs in round two. The Knights squeaked out with a win due to illegal participation on St. Francis’ behalf, when their receiver ran out of bounds, came back, and then was the first to touch the ball.
The Knights played their first away playoff game in Rochelle, where they beat the Hubs by another six points. Their stops on defense late in the game helped them hold Rochelle. The close scores were new for the Knights who, on average, won by 26.6 points in their undefeated regular season.
The Knights ended the season with a final record of 12-1 and a regular season record of 9-0.
Several players were named to the NIB XII all-area team, including seniors Buschbacher, Ryan Noel, Carter, Ben Kovalick and Razo; juniors Nick Sharp, Korey Harner, Ryan Lawrence and Blake Bradford; and sophomores Alex Snyder and David. Buschbacher was named MVP of the NIB XII conference and was the area’s leading receiver with 1,084 yards and 15 touchdowns.
