Knights to face No. 16 seed Pleasant Plains for 3A crown Friday in DeKalb.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The IC Catholic Prep football team once again will have plans Thanksgiving weekend.
The Knights will defend their 2016 Class 3A state title Friday in DeKalb at Northern Illinois University’s Huskie Stadium after defeating host Byron 7-0 in a state semifinal game.
IC Catholic Prep will be in search of its fourth state football title since 2002 when it faces Pleasant Plains Friday at 4 p.m.
In the win against No. 3 seed Byron, which came into the game undefeated at 12-0, IC Catholic Prep quarterback CJ West provided the game’s only scoring on a fourth-quarter touchdown run. It was his seventh rushing touchdown of the season.
West finished 10 of 17 for 150 yards with two interceptions. IC Catholic Prep was limited to only 87 yards rushing on 26 carries (3.3 yards per carry). Lazerick Eatman ran 14 times for 45 yards, while West ran 12 times for 42 yards.
Khali Saunders caught five passes for 78 yards. Jacob Lytton caught two passes for 28 yards, while Eatman had two catches for four yards. Kevin Cooke had one catch for 10 yards and Khalil Saunders had one catch for 32 yards.
Defensively, junior Kemon Reese made a season-high 25 tackles. Cooke had 13 tackles, while Michael Johnson had 10 tackles. Khali Saunders had nine tackles and Jack Enright and Khalil Saunders each had seven tackles.
Max Cook had two pass deflections, while Reese had a fumble recovery. Ryan Malek returned one kickoff 10 yards and Joseph Maci-gerace kicked one extra point.
Pleasant Plains brings a 10-3 record into Friday’s state title game and is the No. 16 seed on the bottom part of the Class 3A bracket. IC Catholic Prep (12-1) is the No. 5 seed on the top part of the bracket.
In addition to winning the Class 3A title in 2002 under the late Bob Cozzi, the Knights won the 2008 Class 2A title under the direction of coach Bill Schmidt and current coach Bill Krefft’s 2016 squad won the Class 3A title.
Under Krefft’s direction, IC Catholic Prep has made five playoff appearances since 2012 and has gone 37-3 over the last three seasons.
