Sycamore pulled to within a touchdown and had the ball to start the half Friday against Mahomet-Seymour.

But the Spartan offense had to punt, then the Bulldogs went on a 12-play, 88-yard drive for a touchdown with two long third-down conversions on the way.

That set the tone for the rest of the game. The Spartans couldn’t score again, and the Bulldogs scored on every second-half possession in a 45-16 win for Mahomet-Seymour.

“They got the ball to start the second half, down one score, and we’re on the road for their senior night,” Mahomet-Seymour coach Jon Adkins said. “Man, if you don’t get a stop there, then a great physical drive and cap it off with points, I think this is a different outcome.”

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The Bulldogs (1-2) avoided their first 0-3 start since 1989 in handing the Spartans (1-2) their most lopsided loss since a 33-0 loss to DeKalb in 2017. Their last four losses, dating back to 2022, were by a combined 28 points.

The Bulldogs jumped up 17-0 early in the second quarter on a 13-yard run by Cody Moen. It was on a third-and-2, and was their first third-down pickup of the game after three fails in the first quarter. They ended up 7 of 11 on third down, including picking up all four attempts in the second half.

“You have to make plays, and we didn’t make plays,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said. “You have to make plays in those situations, especially on third down. You have to be able to get off the field and we didn’t.”

The Spartans started coming back. Playing without leading rusher and leading tackler Kevin Lee, Jayson Panganiban plunged in from two yards out on fourth down, cutting the lead to 17-7.

After the Bulldogs scored another touchdown, the Spartans answered back again. Griffin Larsen found Josiah Mitchell for a 29-yard score. Then, after a quick stop, including forcing the last missed third-down conversion of the game for the Bulldogs, the Spartans and their hurry-up offense marched down to the Mahomet-Seymour 11 and tacked on a field goal, making the score 24-16 at the break.

Sycamore wouldn’t score again in the second half.

“We just weren’t on the same page,” Ryan said of the offense. “There were a lot of missed assignments and we just weren’t all on the same page.”

Each team ran 28 plays in the first half and the Bulldogs were up 213-203 in total yards. But they finished the game with 466 yards of total offense and the Spartans with 296 - 93 in the second half, with 57 of those coming on the final drive with the backups in.

Cody Moen ran 15 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Marco Casillas added 18 carries for 87 yards and a score. Quarterback Ryan Pruitt was 14 for 18 for 215 yards and a touchdown.

For Sycamore, Griffin Larsen was 8 for 18 for 111 yards and an interception. The team had three different backs reach at least 47 rushing yards, led by Cooper Bode’s 52 yards on five carries.

“We didn’t tackle very well, we didn’t block very well,” Ryan said. “Those are two of the fundamental things you want to do in football and we didn’t do them very well tonight.”