Alex VanMastrigt energizes Sycamore defense in win at Belvidere: Daily Chronicle Week 11 Rewind

No. 9 Sycamore 42, No. 8 Belvidere 20: At Belvidere, Jackson MacDonald’s interception gave the Spartans a cushion, but Alex VanMastrigt’s play on the following defensive series helped turn the game into a blowout.VanMastrigt had three tackles on the Bucs’ four-and-out, including stuffing running back Nick Alvarez on fourth-and-1, as the Spartans won the Class 5A First Round playoff game.Sycamore (7-4) advances to face No. 1 Antioch (10-0) on the road at 1 p.m. Saturday.“It feels great,” VanMastrigtsaid. “We’ve worked hard all year. We’ve had some ups and downs throughout the year but at one point we were like, we’ve got to flip the switch. We’ve just came out and been playing very well recently.”Neither team could record a stop Friday. Sycamore scored on its first three drives, Belvidere (6-4) on its first two, and the Spartans led 21-14 with 3:59 left in the second quarter.MacDonald got his interception, Caden Ralph scored on a 28-yard run on the first play of the ensuing Sycamore dri