Rolling Meadows 21, Palatine 14
Was he in?
Was Palatine's Matt Rossi over the goal line with 28 seconds left in the game, on fourth down, from less than a yard away, to send the visiting Pirates into overtime with the host Mustangs, the state's No. 1-ranked Class 7A team?
The junior quarterback said he was when he got back to the bench afterward. His coaches certainly thought so, as did his teammates and Palatine's fans.
"I didn't think so," said Meadows (3-0) coach Doug Millsaps, whose top-ranked team repelled Rossi and pushed him back after his initial surge.
The only opinion that mattered though was that of the officiating crew and they said no, giving Meadows the ball back about six inches from the end zone with the chance to run the clock out and preserve a shaky 21-14 Mid-Suburban divisional crossover win.
"They played great," Meadows wideout Ty Kirk said of the upset-minded Pirates. "We didn't really play to our potential tonight. There was so much hype for this game."
Kirk played to his potential though, scoring TDs on receptions of 5 and 30 yards, out-leaping a shorter defender in the corner of the end zone on the former and out-racing another defender on the latter, both in the second quarter.
And while the Mustangs didn't play their best game, which Palatine had a lot do with, they did make some of their best plays this year. In addition to Kirk's TD receptions, tight end Matt Vinezeano had a 19-yard TD from Sabal (10-for-19, 158 yards) that proved to be the winning points in the third quarter.
Defensively, the Mustangs took turns making big plays. Middle linebacker and defensive signal-caller Joe Okon had several key tackles for losses and a huge fumble recovery. Stan Pheteau had a late pass interception in the second quarter to blunt a drive and barely knocked away what might have been a touchdown from Rossi to speedy Mookie Williams earlier in Palatine's last-gasp drive.
Meadows kept Williams from hauling in any long bombs, double-teaming and/or jamming him consistently.
"They were holding me up (at the line)," Williams said, after a 7-reception, 41-yard night. But he was proud of his team's effort.
"We played hard. We played from the heart, for the love of the game," he said.
They out-played the Mustangs for much of it, too. They out-gained them by almost 100 yards and consistently got tough rushing yards from Dan Sutton, Chris Norman and David Eanes. Rossi threw for 179 yards.
The defense kept it close and then made it closer when junior linebacker Jack Hansen picked off a Sabal pass in the left flat and raced 60 yards untouched for the TD that would make it 21-14.