By Nick Philips, Editor

It truly is a game of inches, and this game required all 48 minutes to complete.

For the second round of the IHSA Class 5A playoffs, eight-seeded St. Francis traveled to Maple Park to face top-seeded Kaneland at Peterson Field.

After giving up a touchdown on the first possession of the game, Kaneland stormed back and answered with 31 points to end the first half.

288 of sophomore quarterback Drew David’s 354 passing yards came in the first half. David was 21-40 passing and threw for four touchdowns.

Sophomore Jesse Balluff led the rushing and receiving game. Balluff finished with 89 yards on twelve rushes. His solid rushing game was accompanied by 180 receiving yards on eight receptions and two second quarter touchdown receptions.

After an extremely strong first half, Kaneland failed to score in the second half. St. Francis scored 21 unanswered points and had the ball for the last possession of the game.

St. Francis receiver Jeff Rutkowski caught a 40-yard hail mary pass from quarterback Nick Donati at the end of regulation for the win, but the play was called back due to illegal participation since Rutkowski stepped out of bounds and then caught the pass. They had one more play to pull off a miracle, and Rutkowski made another catch, but was six yards short of a win.

Kaneland hung on for a 31-28 lead and travels to Rochelle Saturday for an afternoon showdown with the 13-seeded Hubs.