Kaneland’s Jackson Little understands the “next man up” mantra adopted by high school football coaches around the world when it comes to injuries.
A 6-foot, 205-pound junior linebacker, Little experienced it firsthand. Earlier this season, he missed three games with an avulsion fracture on the outside of his ankle.
Little returned quickly, but experienced a different side Friday night when the Knights lost junior linebacker Rogan O’Neil, the team’s leading tackler, in the second half to an upper-body injury.
“He’s a great player, a great leader and a great guy on the field,” Little said of O’Neil, who started the game with a team-high 52 tackles. “When that happens, we have guys ready to take on that role.
“One guy goes down, another guy has to step up. But it was frustrating. We made some mistakes with penalties towards the end. We played the run the whole time and they hurt us with two passes.”
It also seemed like a wrinkle in time, with visiting Rochelle using a running attack option to create a huge time-of-possession advantage for a 21-20 Interstate Eight Conference win over the host Knights at Maple Park.
Rochelle held the ball for 35:01 of the 48-minute match, limiting Kaneland (5-2, 2-2) to just 12:59. The Hubs (4-3, 2-2) were also inspired, playing for an injured teammate in Dylan Manning.
The junior running back, who gained more than 2,000 yards in his career, suffered a serious head injury the previous week at Morris and remained hospitalized following surgery.
Members of Manning’s family attended the match, with two of his brothers serving as honorary captains for the toss. There was a prayer and a minute of silence as both teams gathered in the middle of the field.
Kaneland’s Jack Parker, a senior linebacker, felt the vibe from the kickoff.
“They were definitely loaded up, ready to play,” Parker said. “They were playing for him. They wanted him. They came out and executed better than us on offense and beat our defense.”
Senior fullback Roman Villalobos led the way for the Hubs. He gained 140 yards on 32 carries and scored three short touchdowns. Three more kicks from Aaron Hernandez made the difference.
Kaneland scored quickly, with an 11-yard TD run and a 3-yard TD run by senior running back Carter Grabowski and a 6-yard TD run by senior quarterback Jalen Carter.
The Knights, however, blocked one extra kick and missed another, sandwiched around a successful 2-point conversion.
“We just couldn’t get them off the field,” Kaneland coach Mike Thorgesen said of the Hubs, who have a lot of running to do. “First and 10, second and 7, third and 3, first down. That’s the formula for them to win.
“The way our offense played, that was their way of winning: keep the ball and score when they had it.”
Grabowski finished with 146 yards rushing and 33 yards receiving, but the Hubs countered with scoring drives that ate up 9:30, 2:31 and 12:42 of time of possession. They also converted three plays on fourth down, including Villalobos’ late run that allowed them to run out the clock.
By this point, O’Neil’s absence had been felt.
“It’s huge,” Parker said. “He’s been the heart and soul of our run defense the last few weeks, and it’s just a big loss that hurt us at the end.”
While Rochelle held a 55-34 advantage in games, its advantage in total yards was only 260-255.
“It was heartbreaking because we were getting the third down stop and they were converting on fourth down,” Little said. “It felt like we couldn’t make the one more play we needed to.”
Could O’Neil have made a difference?
“He’s our best linebacker,” Thorgesen said. “Not having him in the second half, maybe it’s worth stopping, maybe not. He’s a good player and we would have liked to have had him for a game like this.
“He’s a tackling machine. We could have used him.”
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