MAPLE PARK — The Ottawa Pirates ran into a Kaneland Knights team here at Peterson Field on Friday night that has been clicking on all cylinders ever since their Week 3 loss to Sycamore.

Coming into the contest, Kaneland had forced running clocks on its last three opponents. The streak continued with a convincing 61-7 Interstate Eight Conference triumph — with the Knights defense taking center stage.

With the win, the Knights have now clinched a playoff berth for the third consecutive season and 22nd in the past 25 years.

Kaneland (6-1, 4-1) showed why it's a club just outside the Associated Press Class 6A poll as it rolled up 35 points in the opening quarter against Ottawa (1-6, 0-5). A blocked punt by Cody Krawczyk on the Pirates' opening possession was recovered by Ethan Feiza at the Pirates 9. Three plays later, Max Gagne scored on a 1-yard plunge to bring the chilly homecoming crowd to its feet.

The hosts then returned a pair of interceptions for scores, one each from Erik Teran (20 yards) and Trevor Carlson (27 yards), plus added a 29-yard run from Wilson Giffney and a 35-yard TD pass from Joe Smith (8-of-11, 114 yards) to Colton Doll to take full control of the game.

"We wanted to build off the first half of the La Salle-Peru game, and we thought we had turned the corner a little bit," said OHS head coach Chad Gross. "Kaneland is a very good football team, and they are in the state rankings for a reason. They make plays on special teams, defense and offense, and that is what a state-ranked team looks like. I'll bet they make a long run in the playoffs this year.

"I told the kids after the game that we just need to put this one behind us. It was just a bad game, and we'll move forward."

Kaneland's Jack McIntire ran in the first play of the second quarter from 13 yards out, then Smith connected with Max Gagne on 33-yard scoring strike to make it 47-0 with 9 minutes, 16 seconds to go before halftime. The Knights added a 25-yard TD dash by Evan Hogan and a Garrison Trebolo pick-6 covering 17 yards.

“The blocked punt was a huge key, and we are really excited about how our defense is playing,” said Kaneland head coach Patrick Ryan. “For us to get three scores from the defense, that is like the next step for us. We’ve played very good defensively this season, but now we are turning it into a positive on the scoreboard.

"We've been working to make ourselves better every week since our loss to Sycamore, and I feel we've done that. We'll have our hands full against a very good Morris team next week, so we'll have to be ready.

"We got to that six-win mark, last week were playoff eligible, but now we are guaranteed a spot."

The Pirates, who were outgained 173-114 in total yards and had just two first downs, picked up their lone points of the game with four minutes to play when Javarious Whitfield cruised 72 yards to paydirt with Kyle Szewczuk adding the extra-point boot. Whitfield finished with a team-best 88 yards on the ground.

Ottawa visits Sandwich next Friday.

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At Peterson Field, Maple Park

Kaneland 61, Ottawa 7

Ottawa (1-6, 0-5) 0 0 0 7 — 7

Kaneland (6-1, 4-1) 35 26 0 0 — 61

Scoring summary

First quarter

K — Gagne 1 run (Matarangas kick), 10:03, 7-0.

K — Teran 20 interception return (Matarangas kick), 8:22, 14-0.

K — Giffney 29 run (Matarangas kick), 6:10, 21-0.

K — Doll 35 pass from Smith (Matarangas kick), 4:11, 28-0.

K — Carlson 27 interception return (Matarangas kick), 2:32, 35-0.

Second quarter

K - McIntire 13 run (kick blocked), 11:54, 41-0.

K — Gagne 33 pass from Smith (kick wide right), 9:16, 47-0.

K — Hogan 25 run (Matarangas kick), 3:54, 54-0.

K — Trebolo 17 interception return (Matarangas kick), 3:43, 61-0.

Fourth quarter

O — Whitfield 72 run (Szewczuk kick), 4:00, 61-7.

Team statistics

OTT KNL

First downs 2 8

Rushes-Yards 31-110 20-59

Passing yards 4 114

Total offense 114 173

Comp-Att-Int. 2-9-3 8-11-0

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 2-0

Penalties-Yards 3-20 2-25

Punts-Avg. 5-25.6 2-19.0

Time of possession 27:00 21:00

Individual statistics

RUSHING: Ottawa — Whitfield 5-88, Fairrow 2-10, Brown 3-8, Galleti 5-5, Schomas 4-2, Coleman 5-1, Miller 2-0, Gosdin 5-(-4); Kaneland — McIntire 4-30, Giffney 1-29, Alkhafaji 1-9, Bastone 1-8, G. Grabowski 1-3, Phillips 4-3, DeFranze 1-2, Gagne 1-1, Sekhon 1-0, Hogan 2-(-2), M. Grabowski 1-(-3), Rovinsky 1-(-4), Pugh 1-(-7).

PASSING (C-A-TD-INT-YD): Ottawa —Galleti 2-9-0-3-4 ; Kaneland — Smith 8-11-2-0-114.

RECEIVING: Ottawa — Gosdin 1-5, Schomas 1-(-1); Kaneland — Gagne 2-43, Doll 2-41, McIntire 3-25, Diehl 1-5.