Lake Forest's late TD tops Palatine
Palatine was hoping to find some answers in its opening night football game at Lake Forest, but the Pirates were left with a few questions Friday.
Lake Forest senior quarterback Paul Carollo found Jacob Hellinga for a game-winning 42-yard score with 1:26 remaining to lead the Scouts to a 28-21 victory.
Palatine drove to midfield with under a minute remaining, but senior quarterback Cody Bobbit's final pass was intercepted with 38 seconds remaining.
Bobbit completed 15-of-23 passes for 166 yards, and the senior quarterback scored on 26-yard keeper to tie the score at 21-21 with 7:32 remaining.
The Pirates drove to Lake Forest 29 on their ensuing offensive position but came up empty when a reverse was stopped for a 10-yard loss.
Lake Forest answered with its game-winning drive.
"It's our first game and we had a a lot of question marks coming into it and we have a lot of things to answer," added Bobbit of the Pirates opener.
Palatine struck first when Bobbit found senior Jimmy Smearman for an 11-yard score. Smearman added a 1-yard score with 1:52 remaining in the first half to give the Pirates a 14-13 halftime advantage.
Smearman finished the game rushing for 73 yards on 15 carries.
Terrance Jackson scored on a 3-yard run with 2:21 remaining in the third quarter and Lake Forest converted the 2-point conversion to go up 21-14 entering the final quarter.
Sophomore Jesse Bobbit had 7 receptions for 109 yards for Palatine, but the Pirates were frustrated for much of the second half by the Lake Forest defense.
"It was a good game, back and forth," added Palatine coach Tyler Donnelly, "but there were too many errors on our part. We're young and we have a bit of a learning curve."
Owen Williams rushed for 106 yards and a score for Lake Forest and Hellinga had 8 catches for 107 yards, including his 42-yard game-winner.
"It's a hard play when you execute it," said Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli of the game-winning catch. "And lucky for us we did, we're excited for the victory."