Schaumburg playoff-bound after topping Barrington

All night long, despite giving up chunk after chunk of yardage, Schaumburg's defense came up big when it had to.

The Saxons defense fought off poor field position, repelled Barrington in the red zone and made sure the host Saxons maintained their chance to win a playoff berth.

In the second half, it was time for the offense to do its part.

"Had to give them something," said Saxons running back Warren Brewer, who had 172 yards and 2 touchdowns in the 21-9 triumph.

The second TD, a 65-yard, tackle-breaking jaunt off right tackle, came with 2:17 left in the game after Schaumburg's defense had again held off a Barrington thrust that would have given the Broncos (2-6) the lead.

Now, though, Schaumburg is playoff-bound again.

"You have no idea how good it feels," Brewer said.

After Barrington stacked the box on defense in the first half, Schaumburg made the blocking adjustments it had to.

"It was all the 'O' line," Brewer said of the difference half to half. "They came out and told me, 'we'll move them.'"

And they did.

Patrick Derback, Richard Barnes, Nicholas Nykaza, Natale Ranallo and Mario Echevarria were able to spring Brewer for 135 of his yards after halftime.

Schaumburg (5-3, 3-1) managed to even up things up statistically, running as many or more plays as the Broncos and gaining as many or more yards, a far cry from a first half dominated by the Broncos but led by the Saxons, 7-0, at intermission.

Barrington left a lot of points on the field in the first half, fumbling inside the Saxon 1 after a 90-yard, 8-minute drive, and turning the ball over on downs at the 2.

"A couple of drives, we didn't finish," said tired sophomore Chase Murdoch (26 carries, 109 yards), Barrington's tailback. "We had the ball, we kept their offense off the field."

Schaumburg turned the momentum immediately though, Mark Iannotti hitting Dionte Hackler for 50 yards on the first play after the fumble, throwing out of his end zone, and doing in 2-and-a-half minutes what Barrington couldn't do in 8-plus: score a TD. Iannotti plunged in to complete a rapid, game-changing 99-yard drive.

"Defensively, we rose to the occasion," said Schaumburg coach Mark Stilling, who's hopeful of making another deep playoff run. Up against an offensive line that considerably outweighed his defensive counterparts, "I was really proud of our physical effort, especially our defensive line." Derback, Joe Zolper, Johnathon Moore and Josh Marchok gang-tackled their way around Barrington's superior size.

The secondary also came up big, even though Barrington's Terrance Terry bought time with his feet and hit 18-of-36 for 202 yards, although Hackler and Andruw Richardson picked him off.

"In the fourth quarter, we played our hearts out," Brewer said of stepping up the effort.

"Absolutely," said Stilling.

But Barrington's not done yet either. Despite a rare season out of the playoffs, "We're going all the way to the end next week," said Murdock.