McHenry blocks Palatine's journey to state

Yes, Palatine came back from a 4-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to tie McHenry in the championship game of the Barrington boys water polo sectional.

But no, that's not going to make the Pirates feel much better about their 9-8 loss to the Warriors on Saturday afternooon.

For the second straight year, McHenry upset the top sectional seed in the title game to earn a spot in Thursday's state quarterfinals at Stevenson.

"There's no use in sugar-coating it," said Palatine coach Joe Grzybek. "We played a good game, but we didn't play our best game. You have to play like you own the pool, and we just didn't play that way."

They did, however, give the fans in attendance their money's worth with a physically punishing, defense-oriented title game.

The Pirates (22-11) led 3-2 after the first quarter, but McHenry produced two quarters worth of dominant play to take an 8-4 lead into the fourth period.

A goal by Brad Ferris with 6:20 left sparked the Pirates, and a man-up goal from Jeremy Stanton with 3:41 further narrowed the gap. Ferris skipped in another goal at 2:29 after drawing an ejection, and after a key save at the other end by Palatine goalie Dan Sommerfeld, Justin Behrens provided the equalizing goal with just 1:16 left.

"What happened was, we got complacent," said McHenry coach Craig Fowles. "You can't leave Brad alone in front of the goal, and that's what we were doing, even though that wasn't the plan. He'll create problems for anybody in there, and he was getting shots, drawing ejections. We managed to finally slow them down - barely."

"I don't think we ever felt like we were going to lose," said Sommerfeld, who confidently turned away perimeter shots by McHenry as the Pirates made their fourth-quarter surge.

But with 52 seconds left, McHenry senior Reilly Shanahan scored from a wing to put the Warriors (28-4) ahead 9-8. And despite a furious finish which saw a pair of quality chances, time ran out on Palatine's season before the Pirates could reach their ultimate goal of an Elite Eight appearance.

"It was fun to watch us get back in the game in the fourth quarter," said Grzybek. "I'm the glad the kids got to have that moment when we tied it up. I just wish it turned out differently."

Ferris scored 4 goals, Behrens had 2 and John Giuliano and Jeremy Stanton had 1 apiece for Palatine. Shanahan and Drew Schmitt finished with 3 each for McHenry, which meets the St. Ignatius sectional winner in the state quarterfinals 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Stevenson High School.