Maldonado, Leyden pound Palatine
Crucial fourth-down decisions usually don't occur in the first two minutes.
Leyden had a big choice to make on fourth-and-2 at its own 40 in its Class 8A first-round playoff football game Saturday night at Palatine's Chic Anderson Stadium.
The Eagles decided to take their chances with their offensive line of Elmer Guzman, Jason Borntraeger, James Flosi, Art Napier, Max Schammert and Dan Kiebler.
Quarterback David Rose sneaked for the first down to fuel a 69-yard touchdown drive and put ninth-seeded Leyden (8-2) was on its way to a 25-7 victory over No. 8 Palatine (7-3).
"We're here to play," Leyden senior running back Angel Maldonado said of the opening statement after rushing for 248 yards and 3 touchdowns on 28 carries. "We're not going to roll over just because we're at your house.
"We're not scared of you. We're here to play and we're here to win."
Maldonado now has 2,243 yards for the season and 25 touchdowns after scores of 9, 73 and 19 yards put Leyden up 18-7 with 6:36 left in the third quarter.
Rose's 34-yard touchdown pass to Adam Bielech sealed the Eagles' first playoff win since 1998. They'll be at home at "The Swamp" in Northlake at 5 p.m. next Saturday against defending 8A champion and top-seed Maine South (10-0), which edged No. 16 Oak Park-River Forest (28-14).
And the opening drive seemed to set the tone for the Eagles as they outgained Palatine 356-256.
"I said, 'Do you want to go for it' and they said, 'no doubt about it,'" Leyden coach Tom Cerasani said of the early fourth-down call. "It was big. And scoring on the first drive gave the whole team the confidence we can play with these guys, because it's an unknown commodity."
Palatine drew within 12-7 with 29.5 seconds left in the first half when quarterback Cody Bobbit capped a 15-play, 80-yard drive with a 5-yard run. But a dropped pass on fourth-and-2 at the Leyden 34 on the first drive of the second half led to Maldonado's third score.
And Leyden defensive ends Jeff Cascella (4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks) and Dan Kiebler (2 tackles for loss) wreaked havoc all night as Bobbit was 20-for-28 for 185 yards passing but was intercepted twice in the second half by Victor Fuentes. Palatine senior Joe Pelnar caught 8 passes for 73 yards and rushed for 41 yards.
"We knew they had a good D-line but they really gave us fits up front and we really didn't block well on the edges," said Palatine coach Tyler Donnelly, whose team had four empty trips into Leyden territory. "The biggest surprise is we didn't get any push on our run game."
Leyden did as usual with Maldonado and now has an even bigger opportunity next week.
"I don't think we're going to be intimidated at all playing the No. 1 team," Maldonado said of Maine South and Indiana-bound star Matt Perez. "We come out and play hard every game and have the mentality we can beat anybody."