Barrington pulls away from Schaumburg
Prior to kickoff at Gary Scholz Stadium of the MSL West contest between host Schaumburg and visiting Barrington, the life and legacy of former Saxon gridiron standout Eric Von Schaumburg was memorialized.
Von Schaumburg, a 2001 Schaumburg graduate, was a two-year starter at safety in 1999 and 2000 seasons during which Schaumburg went 20-4 earning back-to-back MSL West crowns and playoff berths including a Class 6A championship game appearance in 1999. He died on June 18 one day shy of the 10th anniversary of his diagnosis with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 39.
Also commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS is a disease that affects the nervous system by weakening muscles and impacting physical function.
According to the website of the Mayo Clinic, those who develop ALS are given an average life expectancy of 3-5 years from its initial diagnosis.
So it was at midfield Saxons coach Mark Stilling along with athletic director Marty Manning presented Eric's parents Bob and Deb, his younger sister Sarah (a 2005 Schaumburg grad), his younger brother Josh (SHS '07), as well as other members of the family a framed black home jersey with his number he wore during his playing days - No. 23 with a "Fight Like A Champion" name plate.
Schaumburg wore this uniform for the second straight home game with the school colors of cardinal and gold used as trim with that same phrase worn down the side of the pant leg.
Despite giving a valiant effort fitting of the moniker bestowed upon VonSchaumburg, the visiting Broncos (6-0, 2-0) left with a 55-14 win that clinched them a return ticket to the playoffs after just having missed them a year ago. It will be the 27th appearance for Barrington.
It needed to break free from a 14-14 tie that the home team on the scoreboard made thanks to a 100-yard Marcus Stewart pick-6 of Barrington QB Nick Peipert in addition to a two-point conversion run by the Saxon senior with 8:04 left in the second quarter.
Peipert (15-for-23 for 330 yards) proceeded to get the lead back for good for Barrington with three straight completions that set up Dillon Fitzpatrick's second TD run of 8 yards with 6:45 left. A pair of TD passes to Conor Fitzpatrick (85 yards) and Matt Marusich (59 yards) left the Broncos up 35-14 at the break.
Peipert added two more scoring tosses in the third - a second each to Marusich (34 yards) and to Will Nazha (39 yards). Nazha had caught Peipert's first one (54 yards) on the last play of the first quarter.
Schaumburg (2-4, 0-2) was led by junior QB Lucas Wagner (23-44, 221 yards) who threw a 7-yard TD toss to Andrew Kula in the first.
"Obviously we knew this is a team (in) Schaumburg (with) Mark and what they've been doing with his guys playing really hard and obviously you saw the fight (they had) in the first half and you tip your cap to them," Barrington coach Joe Sanchez said. "Once again, I was proud of our boys in overcoming some of our own mistakes and finding a way to start separating from them (in the second quarter)."