Palatine falls short to Lake Forest

Palatine was looking to unveil its spread offense against host Lake Forest in its football season opener.

And it looked promising early as senior quarterback Matt Rossi sneaked in for a 3-yard score to give the Pirates the lead.

But Lake Forest came storming back with 23 unanswered points en route to a 30-15 opening night victory.

After the quick start Palatine watched four starters head to sidelines with injuries and could not recover.

"They did pretty much what we thought they would do, but we didn't make the plays," said Palatine coach Tyler Donnelly. "We had chances to get up on them and we didn't do that."

Linebacker Joe Pelnar and wide receiver Cody Bobbit went out in the first half with injuries. Running back Chris Norman and wide receiver Jim LaCapra followed them in the second half, slowing down the Pirates' offense.

Despite the injuries, Palatine clung to a 7-6 advantage entering the second half. The defense led by Ryan Cortez held the Scouts to 104 yards total offense in the first half, including minus-4 yards rushing.

But Lake Forest quarterback Thomas Rees found TJ Jackson for a 20-yard score on fourth down to give the Scouts a 12-7 advantage with 3:07 remaining in the third quarter.

Rees completed 32-of-55 passes for 271 yards, including 3 touchdowns to pace the Scouts.

Rossi had Palatine's offense humming on his first two drives, but the Pirates offense stalled after that and could not take advantage of bad punt and an interception in the second quarter.

"They started to adjust to what we were doing," said Rossi, who found Jose Munoz for a 66-yard score with 4:19 left to pull the Pirates within 23-15. "Offensively we made too many dumb mistakes that cost us."