A good night to celebrate for Palatine, including win over Conant
It was a festive night at Chic Anderson Stadium on Friday as Palatine celebrated its 2023 Homecoming and the school's hall of fame inductions.
The Pirates football team then made sure to keep the big crowd entertained with a 38-14 triumph over visiting Conant.
Palatine (5-2, 3-0) remained perfect in the Mid-Suburban West. Conant stands at 3-4 and 1-2.
Once again taking its lead from the guys up front - senior Ryan Kick, junior Frank Stark, junior Parker Brault, sophomore Evan Downer and sophomore Tony Balanganayi - the Pirates struck first when Tommy Elter found Tyson Moorer in the back of the end zone for an 18-yard TD pass and Alek Huyser's kick made it 7-0 with 7:24 on the clock, capping a 65-yard drive.
It was Moorer's first of three touchdown catches, a personal best for the senior.
"(Elter and Moorer) work a lot on those plays in practice," said Moorer, who caught 4 passes for 65 yards. "So this was a good game for both of us. We've been working hard all season for this so I'm very excited to have a game like this."
"Tyson played a great game, he was lights out," Palatine coach Corey Olson said.
Running behind linemen Charlie Kawalek, Noah Conde, Harley Stary, Robert Jarmulkowicz and Jash Patel, the Cougars drove from their 30-yard line to the Palatine 25, where they stopped on a fourth-down play when Jacob Stark batted away a pass near the goal line.
The hosts proceeded to march 75 yards in six plays, capped by senior Dominik Ball's 25-yard run off right end to make it 14-0 with 11:20 left in the second quarter.
The drive included a big 29-yard reception by Kole Fager that set up Ball's TD from the 25.
Ball came up with a beautiful 32-yard TD run with 8:19 left until halftime. The Tulane recruit appeared headed out of bounds near the 20, then cut back sharply and raced the rest of the way diagonally to the end zone to make it 21-0.
Conant took advantage of a fumble recovery off its own punt at the Palatine 34-yard line. Six plays later, including 13- and 7-yard receptions to Caleb Christudhas, QB Nick Maize raced into the end zone from 3 yards out. Oleg Shkandrly's extra point made it 21-7 with 40.9 seconds left until half.
Moorer's big kickoff return gave Palatine the ball at the Conant 45.
The Pirates drove to the 10-yard line where Huyser booted a 20-yard field goal to make it 24-7 with 5.9 seconds to halftime.
Palatine went ahead 31-7 with 7:25 left in the third quarter when Elter found Moorer in the back of the end zone again for a 10-yard TD strike.
Ball showed his eye-popping cutback ability again on a 51-yard screen pass from Elter in which Ball covered most of the turf again to give the Pirates the ball at the 16-yard line. Elter then found Moorer again deep in the end zone for the 16-yard TD pass that made it 38-7 with 4:22 left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Conant's Brady Teschner ran for a 29-yard touchdown around right end to make it 38-14 with 6:11 left for the game's final score.
"We controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides," Olson said. "That was the plan. Stop the run. Run the ball. And we did those things."
"We knew coming in we had to be perfect because they (Palatine) are on of the top teams in Illinois," said Conant coach Anthony Donatucci. "At the half we felt confident. So that's what we need to keep carrying through. We have two weeks left to figure it out."