Kaneland finally got its signature win.

The Knights broke through against Sycamore on Friday, topping the Spartans 34-14 for their first win against their Interstate 8 rivals since 2018.

“We really wanted to come out here and beat them,” said quarterback Jalen Carter, who missed most of his team’s Week 5 loss to Morris. “We worked as a team and got work done today.”

It was the first time under coach Michael Thorgesen that the Knights (5-1, 2-1 I-8) beat Rochelle, Morris or Sycamore. They face the Hubs in Week 7.

Carter had six carries for 42 yards and was 16-for-19 passing for 216 yards and two touchdowns.

The Sycamore defense held Carter Grabowski to 15 rushing yards in the first half, although he had three catches for 70 yards and a touchdown. He finished with 22 carries for 115 yards and two touchdowns.

Sycamore running back Vasilios Arhos had 143 rushing yards and a touchdown. Griffin Larsen was 13 for 21 for 153 yards and a touchdown. The Spartans were plus-two in the turnover battle and outgained the Knights 207-177 in the first half. Kaneland finished with a 186-115 edge in the second half.

With the Knights trailing 7-0 after the first Sycamore drive, Carter was intercepted on his first pass attempt. It was tipped by Cooper Bode and hauled in by Josiah Mitchell and returned 33 yards to the Kaneland 5-yard line.

But the Spartans couldn’t punch it in, giving the ball back to the Knights. Kaneland scored the next 21 points.

“If we could have gone up 14 there, it would have been nice,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said. “But they played really well and we didn’t do a very good job stopping them in the second half.”

After the Knights tied things up at 7, the Spartans ran 12 plays to get the ball down to the Kaneland 20. On fourth-and-6 from the 14, they again went for it but failed to convert.

“Our defense, they rise up to the moment,” Kaneland coach Michael Thorgesen said. “When it’s hard they seem to play better. We did the same thing last week with Morris, it just didn’t feel like it. They rise to the occasion.”

Lincoln-Way West 52, DeKalb 21: At DeKalb, Davon Grant became DeKalb’s leader in career receptions, hauling in his 135th to pass Cole Tucker for the mark.

After 112 receiving yards in the loss, Grant needs 23 yards to break Tucker’s team record of 2,409 career receiving yards.

“Extremely proud of him,” DeKalb coach Derek Schneeman said of Grant. “He’s had a great career. He’s a great kid. He’s got a super bright future ahead of him. To break a record that was held by Cole Tucker – who’s one of the greatest players to come through here – is a tremendous honor.”

DeKalb quarterback Cole Latimer was 11-of-24 passing for 199 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Meanwhile, Lincoln-Way West senior quarterback Grant Tustin completed 11 of 22 passes for 122 yards. Both QBs finished with a rushing touchdown.

The Warriors reached the end zone on four of their five drives in the first half. They opened the game with a nine-play, 70-yard scoring drive.

For the Barbs, the loss drops them to 2-4 and 1-2 in conference play. It also makes DeKalb’s chances at a playoff spot much tougher as it prepares to face 5-1 Bradley-Bourbonnais next week on the road.

“We know our situation,” Schneeman said. “We’ve got to get the last three, but we can’t get the last three until we get the next one.”

Genoa-Kingston 63, Rockford Lutheran 14: Genoa-Kingston kicker Adrian Leon set a school record in going 9 for 9 on extra points.

He certainly had plenty of chances thanks to a Cogs’ offense that put up 56 points in a win over North Boone. He connected on 7 of 8 kicks to tie the school record.

“Man, it’s a relief [to have a reliable kicker], I’ll say that,” Genoa-Kingston head coach Cam Davekos said. “We can trust in Adrian to get the job done and solidify a point for us. And we have confidence in him to hit some deep field goals for us, too. He’s a good safety net to have.”

Cody Cravatta had touchdown runs of 14 and 60 yards in the win. He also threw three touchdown passes. Ben Kleba had a pair of TD catches from 32 and 57 yards, while Jaiden Lee had a 42-yard catch for a score.

Owen Zaccard added touchdown runs of 41, 40 and 11 yards. After the running clock was implemented, Ethan Garcia had an interception for the Cogs, and Brycen Wiegertz had a 55-yard touchdown run.

The Cogs improve to 3-3 on the year and 3-2 in the Big Northern Conference. Each of their losses this year has been by a touchdown.