Goro rallies Maine South to 'shootout' victory
Saturday's Stevenson-Maine South football playoff matinee featured more of the same, which probably wasn't surprising since Charlie Goro is focused on achieving a lot more.
Four more wins.
Goro could gladly discard the lampblack-like "5"decal under his right eye and "MORE" sticker under his left eye after another one of the quarterback's all-world performances helped Maine South overcome a stunning start by Stevenson to win in a 63-29 romp in Park Ridge.
In earning a Class 8A second-round playoff match with Loyola, Maine South (10-0) moved four wins closer to winning its first state championship since 2000.
It was the fifth time since 2001 that Maine South ended Stevenson's season. And while the Hawks were heavily favored, they found themselves down 15-0 early and 22-7 after the Patriots' Michael Bilton scored on a 96-yard kickoff return with 3:01 left in the opening quarter.
"They've always played us real tough," said Goro, who threw for 377 yards and 6 touchdowns on 18-of-25 passing. "It's always been battles, so we knew coming into this game that they were going to be super enthusiastic and play hard, and they definitely came out that way."
Stevenson (5-5) couldn't have scripted a better beginning. After forcing Maine South to punt on the game's opening series, the Patriots started on their own 13. On the first snap, Mark Weisman raced 87 yards up the middle to put the visitors in front.
"No one touched me," Weisman said.
Stevenson then faked the PAT kick, with holder Martin Wilson throwing to Weisman for an 8-0 advantage.
The Patriots weren't done with surprises. Bradford Backer recovered a tapped onside kick, and five plays later Zach Wujcik lofted a 36-yard pass to Bilton in the right corner of the end zone.
"Coach was telling us that they come out fast and get a lead early," Hawks running back/cornerback Matt Perez said. "But we just had to play 48 minutes and take care of business. We knew we could do it."
Perez's 5-yard touchdown run - one of his 4 TDs - got Maine South on the board.
But on the ensuing kickoff Bilton faked a reverse, found a seam and sped the distance.
"We kind of did everything that we dreamed of to start the game with the fake (on the PAT), the touchdown, the tap play that we saw that we could get on the kickoff, the kickoff return," Stevenson coach Bill Mitz said.
"But this quarterback they got over here is something special."
Maine South's deficit only fired up Goro and his teammates.
"We were all just telling each other, 'If they want a shootout, we'll give them a shootout,' " Goro said.
"We're confident in our offense. I don't know if that was (Stevenson's) game plan - if they wanted to battle with us - but that's what they got. We dropped 63 on them."
Maine South wound up scoring 56 straight points, with Goro's 79-yard TD pass to John Alviti (6 catches, 173 yards) commencing a running clock with 9:51 left in the fourth.
Goro tossed 2 touchdown passes to both Alviti and Sam Chwarzynski (3 receptions, 100 yards). Perez rushed for 89 yards and 2 scores, returned a punt for a touchdown and caught a TD pass.
Weisman's 74-yard touchdown run late in the game gave him 179 rushing yards on 13 carries.
"We've had leads the whole year," Weisman said. "We knew we had to keep (scoring), and we did. But we just fell short. They're a great team."