Pelnar helps Palatine elude big challenge

Palatine showed Friday night it can bounce back and win a game. Now Buffalo Grove has to show the same thing.

Next week.

The Pirates rallied every time BG smacked them down and finally prevailed at home Friday night, 28-24, in a Mid-Suburban divisional crossover football matchup.

"We're fighters. We're going to fight all the way. We fight back. We always fight back," Pirate running back Joe Pelnar (21 carries, 125 yards) stressed after Palatine remained unbeaten at 3-0.

He helped. Not only did he gain the tough yards, he ran away with a short toss over the middle from Cody Bobbit (13-for-22, 209 yards, 3 touchdowns) to put Palatine on top 14-10 at halftime after BG forged ahead on Kevin Mulligan's (19 carries, 101 yards) 20-yard burst.

But it was three touchdowns BG didn't score in the first half that hurt the tough-luck Bison (1-2). On their first play from scrimmage, Mulligan bolted 71 yards, only to have it called back on a penalty. BG fumbled away the ball five plays later at midfield.

Then, after the brilliant running of quarterback Mike Garrity (13 carries, 77 yards) and John Angotti (10 carries, 127 yards) brought BG into the red zone again, a dropped pass and some tough defense by Tom Johlie limited them to a field goal instead of a touchdown.

To finish the half, Garrity had the ball stripped on the last play of a masterful 72-yard drive that ended with Palatine recovering inside its own 1.

"We've got to learn how to finish games," let alone first halves, said an emotionally drained BG coach Jim Farrell.

Making BG settle for 3 points instead of a potential 21, Palatine regrouped time and again. After BG finally converted on a risky but unexpected fourth-down pass from Garrity to Mike Cornely for a 14-yard touchdown to regain the lead in the third quarter, Bobbit struck again, to Mike Luschen for 37 yards on a fade down the left side and to Dan Haze for 64 right down the middle on consecutive possessions for scores.

"He's a competitor," head coach Tyler Donnelly said of his junior signal-caller. But he was expecting a tough game. "We knew coming in they took Barrington to overtime," in a 14-13 loss the previous week.

But his "lunch-pail kids," as he called them, refused to get down. However they have to get back to work. BG rushed for 310 yards behind Keith Jones, Andrew Busse, Austin Simon, Joe Damisch and Kalvin Booker.

"They really took it to our defense," said Donnelly. "We really have got to shore that up."

For BG, "It's hard to take," said Mulligan. "You just have to get back into it, get ready for next week."

"It was a dogfight," said Pelnar, "the whole game."