After a competitive, high-energy first half, Sycamore‘s physical ground game and defense proved to be the difference in a 35-7 victory over Ottawa on the Pirates’ homecoming weekend.

Ottawa (2-3) coach Chad Gross believes his team came out and matched Sycamore’s intensity early, but faded late.

“I thought in the first half we were toe-to-toe with them, and we just kind of ran out of gas and started making some mistakes there in the second half,” Gross said. “But I’m very proud of the effort.”

After the first few drives, it didn’t take long to realize the game’s outcome would hinge on which team had control of the trenches.

Sycamore (3-2) certainly did, with its defensive front stifling the Pirates’ ground game and limiting senior running back Archer Cechowicz to just 33 yards on 15 carries.

“I thought we did a pretty good job up front,” Sycamore head coach Joe Ryan said. “They’ve got a good back, and holding him down was big for us.”

Although Ryan was happy about the win, he felt his team had room to improve tackling.

“I didn’t think we tackled really well again tonight,” Ryan said. “There were times they were slipping off our tackles, so we’ve got to continue to get better at that.

“I’ll wait til I see the tape, but I still thought we did some good things defensively.”

The Pirates were held to 41 rushing yards on 27 attempts, an average of 1.5 yards per carry. Notably, they managed just 7 yards on the ground in the second half.

It was a different story for the Spartans on offense, outgaining the hosts 306-129 in total yards with senior quarterback Griffin Larson delivering a near-flawless night through the air.

Larson completed 10-of-11 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns, spreading the ball among multiple Spartans playmakers.

Senior receiver Josiah Mitchell hauled in three catches for 65 yards and a touchdown, while senior Cooper Bode had a 39-yard touchdown catch to open the scoring.

Junior Ben Anderson had four receptions for 49 yards and a key red-zone interception on defense. His pick set up a Spartans touchdown just before halftime to put Sycamore ahead 21-7.

“It’s awesome to be able to throw to these guys, they’re all very talented” Larson said. “They really do make it easy on me getting those run-after-catch yards.”

On the ground, senior Kevin Lee carried nine times for 44 yards, and junior Liam Arhos added 50 yards on nine carries as the Spartans totaled 144 rushing yards. In the second half, Arhos had 27 yards on five carries, Lee added 16 yards on three attempts, and senior Cooper Bode chipped in 35 yards on three carries.

The backfield trio combined for 78 yards on 11 carries after halftime, using physical runs to help salt the game away.

“I still don’t think we’re running the ball as well as we’d like,” Ryan said. “We seem to have just one little assignment error at times. But overall, I thought we were physical and did some good things in the run game during the second half, and I think we can get better.”

Ottawa quarterback Andrew Vercolio finished 6-of-15 passing for 88 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Cechowicz led his team with 33 rushing yards on 15 carries and also caught a 5-yard touchdown to tie the game 7-7 in the first half. However, those would be the only points scored for Ottawa.

Gross said his team’s energy was clear, but Sycamore’s depth and physicality wore the Pirates down by the final whistle.

“You could see they played four quarters,” Gross said. “They rotated some guys at us, and I think they wore us down. Our kids certainly weren’t quitting, but [Sycamore] just seemed a little more fresh at the end.”

While Ryan acknowledged his team still has areas to improve, he wasn’t going to downplay a much-needed win to get the Spartans above .500.

“We did everything we needed to do on the road to win a game in this conference, and we’re going to celebrate it,” Ryan said.