Palatine comeback buries Brother Rice
Palatine's football team dug itself a deep hole on Saturday.
Fortunately for the Pirates, they have lots of shovels.
Palatine roared back from the 17-point deficit it was facing late in the third quarter to stun Brother Rice 28-24 Saturday in the Class 8A quarterfinals in Palatine.
The Pirates (9-2), who were seeded 13th, will host top-seeded Loyola next Saturday for the right to play in the state championship game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
“We talked at halftime about wanting to win the game,” said Palatine coach Rick Splitt, whose team trailed 17-0 at the break. “We talked about doing the little things. We just needed momentum on our side. And we got it - we fast-forwarded from there.”
The Pirates scored went into warp drive, scoring 28 points in the game's final 10:17.
Zach Oles, who struggled for two and a half quarters, threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for two others as Palatine wore down Brother Rice down the stretch.
“We just played with heart and perseverance,” said Oles, who was 16-for-24 passing for 207 yards and rushed for another 105. “And that's what we did in the second half. The little things - and it came up huge for us.”
Nothing seemed to go well for Palatine before that. The Pirates managed just 3 first downs and had 79 yards of total offense in the first half.
Brother Rice (9-2), which was seeded fifth, had everything going its way. The Crusaders piled up 281 yards of offense in the first half. They took the lead on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Camren Miller to Ricky Smalling, a 1-yard run by Miller and a 29-yard field goal.
“The first half was rough,” Splitt said. “Every momentum we had went backwards. We had trouble adjusting to their speed.”
Palatine had hoped to come out of the locker room with new spirit. But that took a detour when the Pirates fumbled on just the fourth play of the second half at their own 33.
But instead one hanging their heads and congratulating each other on a fine season, the Pirates got out an excavator.
Led by a defense of Dillon McHugh, Mike Williams, Evan Lama Sosa, Majetete Balanganayi, Ethan Senner, Dylan Tapia and Anthony Portera, the Pirates not only stiffened, but pushed the Crusaders back.
“They came up huge for us,” Oles said. “We asked them to deliver for us and they did.”
That effort got the Pirates the momentum they needed.
Palatine began to spread the field offensively, giving Oles running room. And with Brother Rice focused on stopping Matt Lamm, who had 4 touchdowns the previous week against Oak Park, Oles began to look to Jovone Stricker and Matt O'Shea to move the ball down the field.
After an O'Shea catch took the ball to the 3, Oles scored two plays later to make it 17-7 with 16.7 seconds left in the third quarter,
The defense gave the Pirates great field position and Oles took advantage of it. He also took advantage of strange coverage by Brother Rice, which inexplicably began to back off of Lamm. The duo made them pay, hooking up for a 44-yard catch and run to cut the lead to 17-14 with 10:34 to play.
“When they backed off, we saw that,” said Lamm, who had 8 catches for 83 yards. “We started to attack and makes plays off of that. Zach made a great pass and I just broke a tackle and kept on running.”
Brother Rice came right back to increase its lead to 24-14 on a 9-play drive as Miller scored again from the 1 with 8:05 to play.
Oles and Palatine came right back. With the offensive line of Carson Walker, Andrew Martino, Max Strepp, Matt Kerlin and Joey Smearman giving him time, Oles connected with Stricker on a pair of 23-yard pass plays.
“We just had to stay together,” said Stricker, who was playing his first game in three weeks thanks to a high ankle sprain and had 5 receptions for 72 yards. “I have been waiting for a while to help the team. I got my chance today.”
After another Stricker catch, Oles threw a screen pass to Josh Turner, who broke a tackle and scored from 17 yards out to make it 24-21 with 6:51 to play.
After yet another three-and-out by what looked like a tired Brother Rice team, Oles took over.
Running the speed option, he continued to gash the Crusaders, moving the ball inside the 5. Brother Rice put up a stand, turning away Oles and Turner, both times from the 2. But on fourth down, Oles powered his way over the goal line to give Palatine a 28-24 lead with 2:39 left.
Again it was up to the defense - and again it didn't fail.
McHugh, who had made a crushing tackle on the previous series, injuring his shoulder, made a one-handed interception with just over two minutes left to seal the victory.
“They ran the out,” McHugh said. “Mikey (Williams) tipped it and I caught it between my hand and my helmet.”
For Splitt, it was a sweet win for his Pirates. The program advances to the state semifinals for the first time since 1996.
“It was a great team effort,” Splitt said. “And everything about it was great. These kids never quit and wanted to keep playing together.”