They made the most of this opportunity

This was the opportunity of a lifetime for Barrington's football players.

An opportunity to knock off one of the best - if not the best - team in the state in Maine South in a Class 8A state playoff quarterfinal Saturday night at Barrington.

An opportunity for the Broncos to see if they could slow arguably the best player in the state and one of the best high school quarterbacks in state history in Charlie Goro.

The Broncos joined 11 other victims who couldn't stop the high-flying Hawks and Goro. They couldn't stop the clock in the final 21 minutes of a 42-0 loss.

But senior linebackers Tim Oakley and Cam Good wouldn't trade some of the disappointment they felt Saturday for the elation that led to what the Broncos called the road to redemption.

"After that Saturday last year after the Schaumburg game, when we found out we didn't make the playoffs," Oakley said of the 5-4 finish without enough playoff points, "we said, 'We're going to make the playoffs,' and we did."

All the way to a place a lot of players around the state would sacrifice anything to be - the quarterfinals.

Unfortunately for the Broncos, three defensive starters sacrificed that opportunity with poor decisions after last Saturday's win over New Trier that led to athletic code violations.

It made a week that was already going to be tough enough even more difficult.

"We're not going to focus on what wasn't here and focus on what was here," said Barrington coach Joe Sanchez. "They were put under a pretty tough situation, but I was pretty proud of them all week. They came out and played their butts off."

Good never stopped playing with tremendous emotion even as the deficit quickly grew. Brett Seeger intercepted Goro and seniors Travis Norton and Jacob Stackhouse combined for a fourth-quarter sack against the Hawks' reserves.

Good clearly wasn't worried about who wasn't there, either.

"Everyone thought with the unfortunate incident that happened that we'd throw in the towel," Good said. "We came together on defense and we didn't give up. We always had heart."

Heart isn't always enough against teams like Maine South. Heart was a big part of what Barrington accomplished and the emotions everyone had afterward.

Senior receiver Daniel Evers said "he couldn't ask for a better family" and implored his teammates to "not do anything stupid."

Senior offensive tackle Gus Handler called it the best four years of his life.

"You don't know how much you guys mean to me," Handler said. "When you walk off this field, walk off with your heads held high because we did everything we could."

There's no shame in that even when it can't change the result on the scoreboard.

They had one final opportunity to experience all of the emotions for all of the time and effort they had invested for years.

An investment that sometimes can crash quicker than the stock market because of a lapse in judgment.

So, the question is, what opportunities really matter?

To partake or hang around those partaking in opportunities that can have severe consequences?

Or to take part in an opportunity experienced Saturday by Barington that may not come around again in your lifetime?

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com