Hinsdale C. suffers painful loss

The loss Hinsdale Central suffered Friday was as painful as they come.

The Red Devils had the ball and a 6-point lead over visiting Brother Rice with 3:06 left in the Class 8A second-round football game.

Facing third-and-14 at his own 21-yard line, Red Devils quarterback John Whitelaw was sacked by Brother Rice defensive end Steve Wesselhoff. The ball came loose.

Sophomore linebacker Shannon Rogers scooped it up and ran 16 yards to the Hinsdale Central 4-yard line.

Two plays later Jeremy Rhodes' 2-yard run tied the score, and Sean Noble's extra point gave No. 4 seed Brother Rice a 21-20 win at Hinsdale's Dickinson Field.

Twice a difference-maker, Wesselhoff blocked the kick after No. 12 seed Hinsdale Central's last touchdown, at 9:04 of the fourth quarter.

"We were expecting to come in and win this game, but the manner that we did it is unbelievable," Wesselhoff said.

Rogers said: "Coach (Steve Nye) said no letdowns, just believe in each other. People made big plays, and the fumble recovery was a big one."

Hinsdale Central (7-4) lost in Week 9 on a controversial fumble call. Red Devils coach Mike DiMatteo will have to go to the film on this one, too.

"I don't know whether our quarterback was down or not," he said. "I have 40 people in the end zone saying he was laying on his back and he was down.

"I don't know, I didn't see it, so I really can't comment on it one way or another."

It was the mother of all momentum swings in a game that, despite Hinsdale Central's statistical dominance, see-sawed back and forth.

The Red Devils outgained Brother Rice 247 yards to 87. Sacks by Ryan Murphy, Mike Owens and Allan Cameron limited the Crusaders to 33 yards rushing. Rhodes' score earned Brother Rice its only first down of the second half.

Hinsdale Central took a 7-0 lead on Rich Zajeski's 22-yard run behind linemen Tim Curran and Robbie Mains.

Brother Rice (9-2), advancing to the 8A quarterfinals against Homewood-Flossmoor, scored on successive second-quarter drives to go into halftime leading 14-7.

Sophomore call-up Jason Rafferty tied the score at 2:51 of the third quarter, on a 15-yard Whitelaw pass.

Whitelaw's 9-yard pass to another soph, Alex Kirk, gave the Red Devils a 20-14 lead.

Hinsdale Central senior Nick Chenier was the first co-captain to speak in a tearful postgame huddle.

"I love them with the bottom of my heart," he said later. "They're like brothers to me, and I'll never forget them. It was a great season."

-- David Oberhelman

Geneva 35, St. Charles East 14:ŒThe recipe for success remained perfect for Geneva in a second-round Class 7A playoff game against nearby St. Charles East.

Battling the Saints for the first time in nearly 30 years, the Vikings used Michael Ratay to run the ball well, utilized the height advantage of wide receiver Joe Augustine and attacked the Saints' offense by sacking Saints quarterback Sam Gunther 7 times as the hosts defeated the Saints 35-14.

Geneva (11-0) tied the school record for victories and will attempt to set a new standard when it faces either East St. Louis or Moline next week in the state quarterfinals.

The Vikings didn't turn the ball over, recovered 1 fumble and have now combined for 47 fumble recoveries, interceptions and sacks this season.

"It's a good recipe, isn't it?" Geneva coach Rob Wicinski asked. "We talk about protecting the ball on the offensive side and getting it on the defensive side."

"We just try to keep our poise," Wicinski said. "We know the other team is going to make plays, but we figure out ways to handle that and get momentum on our side."

-- Chris Walker

Mt. Carmel 34, Palatine 0:ŒAll the practice in the world couldn't have prepared Palatine for Mt. Carmel's Tim Brown.

The 5-foot-8, 180-pound speedster burned Palatine's defense for first-half touchdown runs of 88 and 92 yards and opened the second half with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Coach Frank Lenti gave him the rest of the night off after gaining 191 yards in 6 carries in the No. 1-seeded Caravan's 34-0 victory over the host Pirates in the second round of the Class 8A playoffs at Chic Anderson Stadium.

The No. 9-seeded Pirates (7-4) seemed to be on their way to tying the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter when a drive that started on their own 22 stalled on the Mt. Carmel 34, thanks to an offensive pass interference penalty. Jack Hansen's punt pinned the Caravan (11-0) on their own 8-yard line, but Brown burst through the line on the second play and outran the Palatine secondary.

"They do that all the time," said Palatine coach Tyler Donnelly. "You can do well for a while and then miss on one play. They've got good backs, and we're not fast in the secondary."

-- Larry Weindruch

Prairie Ridge 56, Oswego 36:ŒOffensive perfection.

Well, almost.

Scoring on 8 of 9 possessions and amassing 429 yards of rushing, No. 2 seed Prairie Ridge remained undefeated with a 56-36 victory over No. 7 Oswego in a second-round game of the Class 6A playoffs held at the Prairie Ridge Athletic Stadium.

The Wolves (11-0), who avenged a 56-42 loss to Oswego in last year's second round, advance to next weekend's quarterfinals and will play the winner of today's Grant-Lemont matchup.

"We are going to run laps Monday because we had to punt once," kidded Prairie Ridge coach Chris Schremp. "We talked a lot about last year's game with Oswego. When we saw we had a chance to play them again the kids were excited. Bryan (Bradshaw) ran the option well and all our backs ran well. Oswego is a strong team that has a lot of phenomenal athletes."

Prairie Ridge quarterback Bradshaw, who read the option almost flawlessly all night, ran 6 times for 112 yards and he scored on runs of 3, 1 and 59 yards. The junior also completed 4 of 11 passes for 79 yards, which included a 32-yard touchdown pass to Sam Campbell.

"We watched a lot of film and the coaches came up with a very good game plan," Bradshaw said. "Oswego displayed some weaknesses on film and we were able to exploit them. We knew we couldn't let up because Oswego could score a lot of points. We had to keep pounding and pounding and we had to keep scoring. We couldn't let up."

Bradshaw had plenty of help from his friends in the backfield. Campbell ran 14 times for 126 yards and scored on touchdown runs of 22, 5 and 1. Kevin Keener toted the pigskin 17 times for 110 yards and scored the game's final touchdown on a 38-yard run.

Todd Budy carried 5 times for 81 yards and had runs of 35 and 27 yards.

"We just don't see that type of offense and we just couldn't simulate that in practice," said Oswego coach Dave Keely. "It is a precision offense and they have it down to a science and they have great athletes to run it."

-- Dave Hess