When Sycamore and Kaneland met for the first time last month, the Spartans relentlessly attacked the net but couldn’t score while the Knights notched the shutout.

It took Leo Padilla and Sycamore 44 seconds to make sure they didn’t suffer the same fate again.

Padilla’s first-minute goal gave the Spartans the momentum they needed in a 5-0 win over the Knights on Monday in Sycamore, tying the teams at the top of the Interstate 8 standings.

“We were really looking forward to this game. We wanted our comeback from last game,” Padilla said. “So this felt really good to us.”

Sycamore (13-7 overall, 5-2 Interstate 8) kept attacking Kaneland (6-13, 6-2). While some came close, nothing fell for the next 16 minutes.

But with 23:09 left in the first half, Gavin Crouch - just 2 minutes after barely missing an open shot past a pulled-out goalie, connected with a rocket that bounced off the goalkeeper’s hand and into the net.

Four minutes later, the Kaneland defense swarmed Crouch, but he found a seam to pass the ball to Paxton Nicol, who banged the ball home for a 3-0 lead.

“I thought we started the first game out like that and the goal didn’t come,” Sycamore coach Kevin Bickley said of the Spartans’ 1-0 loss to the Knights. “The boys were ready. ... The first game didn’t go the way we wanted it to. We wanted to make sure it went the right way this time.”

Noah Carlson scored the fourth goal for the Spartans, sprinting up the field, firing a shot, then punching home the rebound with 12:24 left.

Rodrigo Gonzalez capped the scoring with 2:33 left in the first half. Neither team connected in the second half.

“Credit Sycamore, they came out on fire,” Kaneland coach Scott Parillo said. “We did not. That’s the bottom line. I told the boys they were going to come out with a lot of intensity and a lot of energy and they did not respond.”

Kaneland’s best look at the net came in the 35th minute, already down 3-0. Michael Painer had a shot from the center of the box but pushed it too far left, just missing the corner.

Less than a week ago, Kaneland was in the driver’s seat for the outright league title. Sycamore lost to Rochelle on Sept. 29 on penalty kicks, their second loss in conference while the Knights were undefeated in I-8 play.

Two days later, the Hubs beat Kaneland. Sycamore’s win Monday ties the teams for first, each with two conference games left. The Knights play Morris and La Salle-Peru while the Spartans still have Ottawa and Morris.

“We needed to win this game if we even wanted a chance of winning conference,” Padilla said. “Our energy was high for this game. We needed this one and we showed it.”

Sears was playing his first game back for the Spartans after an injury earlier this season. Bickley said they’ve known for about two weeks this was the game he was returning, and he had an impact with two assists.

“We lost to Rochelle at their place and we thought we shot ourselves in the foot,” Bickley said. “But we knew two weeks ago this was going to be a big game and he came back and gave us a lift. You can see it in the way the boys played today.”