Palatine pounds it to Schaumburg

Mother Nature grounded Palatine's air mail service Friday night.

So the Pirates relied on their Pony Express to deliver a muddy but very satisfying 31-10 victory over Schaumburg at Chic Anderson Stadium to secure their share of the Mid-Suburban West football title in a tie with cross-town rival Fremd.

With the passing game mostly nullified by the elements, coach Tyler Donnelly's Plan B was familiar to the Pirates (7-2, 4-1), who ran the double-wing prior to this year. They ran the ball 44 times for 250 yards behind the blocking of linemen Kevin Dann, Joe Stopka, Ryan Eich, Adam Schroeder and Sahishnu Patel.

"We had one returning starter on the line (Dann)," Donnelly said. "They're bigger than last year.

"The kids held onto the ball pretty well and had no turnovers," Donnelly said. "We had five last week, so what do you think the theme of the week was?"

Palatine came from behind twice, the first when Cody Bobbit (10 carries, 50 yards) scored on a 13-yard run to put the Pirates ahead 6-3 after Schaumburg's Adam Syvertsen kicked a 27-yard field goal on the game's first possession.

Schaumburg regained the lead at 10-6 with 10:14 left in the first half when Anthony Iannotti (15-of-18 for 126 yards) hit Mike Valenti with an 8-yard scoring pass.

Bobbitt put the Pirates ahead to stay on his 9-yard run with 6:21 left in the half, and Jack Hansen (15 carries, 72 yards) scored the first of 2 touchdowns with 49.8 seconds left in the half to put Palatine on top 18-10.

"The O-line was awesome," Hansen said. "I just followed the front five. They made great blocks."

A great block by wide receiver John Sakellaris helped spring Jamie Silveira (13 carries, 109 yards) on a 31-yard touchdown reception from Matt Rossi (9-of-16, 119 yards). The play started down the left sideline but finished at the right pylon on the goal line as Rossi finished the regular season with 2,031 yards passing and 16 touchdowns.

"I knew I wasn't going to beat the defender to the edge," Silveira said. "(Sakellaris) cracked back, and I just cut back."

Both running backs were thrilled with being part of Palatine's first division champion since 1997.

"It's huge," Silveira said. "After the loss to Conant, we came together as a team."

"It's a good feeling. I love it," Hansen said. "After the game against Conant, we turned it around."

Schaumburg (5-4, 2-3) coach Mark Stilling could look forward to next week's playoff berth.

"We've got to get better from here," Stilling said. "I don't think we competed very well at all. I think we came out to play early until things got adverse."