April 19, 2024
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Kaneland passing attack leads Knights to 42-7 win at Woodstock

By Eddie Carifio
Kaneland players celebrate Sam Gagne's (3) touchdown during a game at Geneva on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021.

Kaneland players celebrate Sam Gagne's (3) touchdown during a game at Geneva on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. (Sandy Bressner - sbressner@shawmedia.com)

The Kaneland football team raced out to the first 21 points, winning at Woodstock on Friday, 42-7.

Troyer Carlson was responsible for five touchdowns, throwing two to Sam Gagne, one to Aric Johnson and one to Dom DeBlasio. He also ran for a score in the victory. He finished with 255 yards and four TDs through the air, completing 20 of 29 passes.

Jaden Madison also had a rushing score for the Knights (3-2 overall, 2-1 Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 White), going 20 yards on his only carry.

The Knights played their second full game without star running back Corey Phillips. Chris Ruchaj crossed 100 yards for the second straight game, going for 105 on 18 carries.

“Our running game did struggle a little tonight, for a number of reasons,” Kaneland coach Pat Ryan said. “We struggled to run but were able to effectively throw the ball. We protected Troyer and gave him time, and he made some good plays. We caught the ball well tonight.”

Gagne had 108 receiving yards on nine, DeBlasio had five catches and 95 yards, and Johnson had five catches for 47 yards.

It was the fewest points Kaneland has surrendered this year, the previous low being 21 last week in a win against Woodstock North.

“I thought we played much better defensively this week,” Ryan said. “It felt good to limit scoring and we didn’t give up too many big plays. For the most part, we shut them down pretty good.”

Heading into the game, Ryan said he didn’t expect the Blue Streaks (2-3, 0-2) to run too much. He said his team had trouble stopping the run this year.

But Woodstock ran the ball more than he expected, and Ryan said he thought the defense did a good job against the run. THey allowed just 66 yards on the ground in the game.

“They ended up running more than we anticipated,” Ryan said. “They must have seen something on film on us and they had some option stuff in the game plan, which we hadn’t seen. I thought, overall, we did a good job defending it and improved from where we’ve been.”