Palatine 20, Prospect 17 (OT)

It was one 4-yard run for a Palatine running back and one giant leap for its football program Friday night at George Gattas Stadium in Mount Prospect.

Trailing Prospect by 3 points in overtime, junior James Silveira ran off-tackle for a game-winning touchdown and an exhilarating 20-17 win that "put Palatine football back on the map," according to coach Tyler Donnelly.

The overtime score capped a sterling second half of football for Palatine (2-2), which trailed the Mid-Suburban League crossover 14-0 at halftime but made all the right adjustments to score a well-deserved victory.

"I challenged the kids at halftime," said Donnelly, whose team lost 21-14 to Rolling Meadows last week. "I told them that they (Prospect) had outplayed us and out-physicaled us. I told our seniors 'it's up to you,' and they responded. I'm so happy for the kids."

"This means the world to us," added running back Daniel Sutton, one of the senior stars. "To get this one feels great.

"At halftime, coach told us it was up to the seniors to get it started, and we were able to turn the switch."

Prospect led at halftime as sophomore quarterback Miles Osei ran for 2 touchdowns and Mason Pack had 94 rushing yards.

But junior Ryan Cortez (2 sacks), senior Parker Brown (interception) and the rest of the Palatine defense shut down the Prospect offense in the second half. The Pirates' offense controlled the line of scrimmage and the clock with their running game.

"I'll have to look at film," said Prospect coach Brent Pearlman, "but in the second half we could not get our defense off the field."

Palatine scored twice in the third quarter on a 1-yard plunge by Sutton (21 carries, 95 yards) and a 5-yard misdirection scamper from David Eames (14 carries, 73 yards).

Both teams had chances to win near the end of regulation.

First Prospect junior Mike Przespolewski blocked Palatine's short field goal attempt with two minutes left. Then the Knights had a chance with five seconds left but Pat Ziegenfuss' 31 yard kick attempt was just wide right.

"At that point (going into overtime)," said Cortez, "we were thinking 'just shut them down.'"

Prospect got the ball first with four plays from the 10 but the Pirates forced Ziegenfuss to kick a 21-yard field goal to give the Knights a short-lived lead.

Palatine got its turn at the 10-yard line and first Silveira ran for 6 yards, then burst through two would-be tacklers for the winning score.

"I couldn't believe it," said Silveira. "I crossed the goal line and everybody rushed onto the field screaming 'we won.'

"This is huge. This gives us so much momentum going into the conference season."