With Sycamore missing one of its leading scorers, senior Marcus Johnson said defense was going to be the key in knocking off Woodstock and claiming a regional title for a second straight year.

Johnson, Josiah Mitchell and the Spartans delivered, holding the Blue Streaks to 17 points through three quarters and building a 38-point lead entering the fourth quarter in a 61-35 win to claim the Class 3A Boylan Regional championship in Rockford on Friday.

“Without Isaiah [Feuerbach], we knew it was going to be a challenge,” said Johnson, who finished with 20 points, five rebounds, four steals and a block. “Coach [Ethan] Franklin had a great game plan and we just executed it perfectly. Applied pressure the whole way through, made them uncomfortable, and it just led to points.”

The Spartans (27-5) led 26-15 at halftime but scored the first 16 points of the third quarter. JJ Stokes scored on a layup to stop the bleeding for the Blue Streaks (22-10) to cut the lead to 42-17, but Sycamore blitzed Woodstock in the final 2 minutes to reach the running clock.

A Xander Lewis bucket with 1:53 left in the quarter kicked off a stretch of eight points in less than a minute, all of backcourt steals. Mitchell had three steals and two layups in the stretch.

“We were a little worried [without Feuerbach], I’m not going to lie,” said Mitchell, who finished with 16 points, five rebounds, three steals and three blocks. “But our confidence still was high. Our confidence helped us in this game a lot. That’s kind of what led us to this win.”

The Sycamore starters left the game quickly in the fourth quarter, while the last Woodstock starter remained in the game until the final two minutes. Woodstock scored 18 points in the fourth quarter with the running clock after scoring 17 through the first three quarters.

Liam Laidig finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and four blocks for the Blue Streaks. No one else for Woodstock scored more than six points or grabbed more than four rebounds.

“They took away our strengths,” Woodstock coach Ryan Starnes said. “They ran our shooters off the 3-point line. They defended the paint pretty good in there. We struggled to get going in there. We had a couple decent looks early that didn’t go. If you hit a couple of those, you get some confidence and you might get going, but they didn’t fall.”

The Blue Streaks wrapped up one of their most successful seasons in years, their third straight with at least 20 wins but their first with more than 20 since 1999-2000.

Even though there were five seniors on the team, Starnes said the team was still young – only Stokes was a senior starter.

“It’s always hard to lose but we won 22 games which we haven’t done in forever,” Starnes said. “We won a conference championship which we haven’t done in 42 years. We made a regional championship, which we haven’t done in forever. ... The togetherness of this team is something I’m going to remember. We’ve got five seniors in there. Most of them don’t play but they are the most selfless kids in the world. Their leadership was very important.”

The Spartans advance to the Class 3A Woodstock North Sectional, in which they’ll face Crystal Lake South. The Gators eliminated the Spartans 66-37 in a sectional semifinal last year.

It was the fewest points the Spartans have given up since allowing 33 to Sandwich in the season opener. Sycamore coach Ethan Franklin said when the team is engaged on defense, they are pretty solid.

“They just understood the assignment,” Franklin said. “They understood the game plan and knew where we were supposed to be and were in the right place at the right place at the right time.

Logan Hodges, starting in place of Feuerbach, didn’t score but helped the defensive effort with three steals. Xander Lewis had 15 points and Aidan Messenbrink had three blocks.

Franklin said Mitchell is a gamer and knew he was going to step up. He also said Johnson took advantage of his athleticism on the defensive end, especially when it came to the block, which came on a help-side assist.

Johnson is in his first year with the team after transferring from Genoa-Kingston. Unlike most of his teammates, it’s his first regional championship.

“I’ve come a long way,” Johnson said. “This is what it’s all for. All the sacrifices, moving from Genoa to here, this is what it’s all about. This is the goal. Gotta keep it going too.”