DeKalb heads to Belleville West looking to build off big Week 2 win

DeKALB – Coming off a 2-7 record last year and a 35-7 loss to Sycamore in Week 1, DeKalb got the statement win it was looking for against Plainfield South last week.

This week, the Barbs head down to Belleville West looking for some momentum, taking on the Maroons (0-2).

“It felt really good because we had to set a statement,” said running back Jamari Brown, who along with Talen Tate led a DeKalb ground attack that picked up almost 300 yards in the win. “A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, DeKalb is going to go 2-7 again. Oh, they’re going to do bad again this year.’ Now we’ve got to go do it again.”

The Week 2 win against the Cougars avenged a 27-17 home loss to South a year ago. The Barbs improved to 2-1 last year with a win over Belleville West before dropping six straight in conference.

Belleville West has lost 11 straight, last made the playoffs in 2018 and last won a playoff game in 2014. But DeKalb coach Derek Schneeman said, despite a 45-0 loss to Fort Zumwalt West (Missouri) last week, the Maroons are much improved from last year.

“It was really nice to get that win last Friday, especially in the manner we did it,” Schneeman said. “Hopefully we can carry that momentum into Friday. It’s a long trip, so we’re facing some adversity traveling 4 1/2 hours down there, so we have to make sure we come out and play our best against a very improved Belleville West team.”

The Barbs have a chance to win back-to-back games for the time since Oct. 4 and 11, 2019, actually the end of a three-game conference winning streak against Metea Valley, Waubonsie Valley and Naperville North.

Schneeman said the key to a win Friday is the same as any week: control the line and win the turnover battle. He said the long trip to Belleville may complicate things a little, but the leadership of a large senior class will help mitigate that.

The challenge for us is going to be traveling somewhere we’ve never been and traveling on a bus for a long period of time and coming out and executing,” Schneeman said.

DeKalb will head into the game off a dominating victory against Plainfield South. The Barbs entered with the goal to stop Brian Stanton, who carried the load in Week 1, and they succeeded. Stanton ran for 36 yards in the first half and 80 for the game.

Nathan Smith also had a handful of big plays defensively for the Barbs, including a sack.

“Coming off Week 1, they straight up beat us,” Smith said. “We needed a win like that [in Week 2]. That really helps. We’re going to carry that win for a while I think.”

Brown said if the running game is as successful going forward as it was last week, that bodes well for the Barbs.

“If they can’t stop the running game, then we keep on using it,” Brown said. “Then we use the passing game cause we have good wide receivers and a good QB.”

Schneeman said he was confident the defense could put up another good performance as well.

“They run a spread; they run a lot of H-back stuff; they want to run the football,” Schneeman said. “They’ve got a pretty good quick-to-intermediate passing game. I feel confident because we’ve been practicing against a similar offense in ourselves all summer. Hopefully, that puts us in a position to be successful.”