Maine West's rally falls short

Maine West's magical season came to a disappointing end Saturday in Des Plaines.

But not before the Warriors' furious rally in the final three minutes just fell short.

Maine West scored twice in the final 1:38 to cut Collinsville's lead to just five points. But the Warriors could not recover an onside kick and fell to the Kahoks 20-15.

"We saw that a number of times when we were in some tough spots," Maine West coach George Klupchak said. "It is hard to quit when you have invested as much as these players did. We were down two scores today and they were still not quitting. We were down 20-6 and had a chance to win. It is a testament to our senior class and their character and the younger players following their lead."

Maine West, which became the first team in school history to start a season 9-0, had rallied to win three games this season in the final minutes. And the Warriors nearly made it a fourth time.

They appeared to be dead when Ben Cooper threw an interception at the Collinsville 1-yard line with 1:42 to play and his team trailing 20-6. Cooper moved from tight end to quarterback this week when starter Tommy Delaney was injured in last week's game with Niles North.

On the very next play, a swarming Maine West defense tackled Collinsville's Chase Reynolds in the end zone for a safety to cut the margin to 20-8 with 1:37 left.

Maine West then returned Collinsville's free kick to midfield. On the very next play, Cooper threw long to Ernesto Martinez, who made a leaping catch. Martinez then shook off the defender's tackle and outraced two Kahoks to the end zone to make it 20-15 with 1:19 left.

Unfortunately for Maine West, their onside kick was recovered by Collinsville. They then took a knee to advance to next week's second round playoff game at Lincoln-Way West.

Cooper, who was playing quarterback for the first time since he was in sixth grade, finished 20-of-33 for 321 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

"That's just not me," Cooper said. "That's our players. That's our coaches. No matter what their role was that they had in this thing. I thought we had it at the end. It just stinks to go out this way."

Maine West had two earlier fumbles that led to a pair of Collinsville (6-4) touchdowns. Both were on passes of 30 and 35 yards.

The Warriors trailed 14-0 to start the final quarter. Maine West, which had failed on two previous entries in the red zone, was successful on this trip. Cooper connected with Adam Aboebied on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 11:48 to play.

Collinsville then put together their only scoring drive of the game. The Kahoks went 85 yards on 5 plays to score on a 22-yard run by Reynolds to make it 20-6 with 9:20 to play.

Kyle Ramirez, along with Cooper, Alexander Gorbenko, Frankie Norman and Harris Khan, limited Collinsville to just 78 rushing yards.

"It was more than football for us," Ramirez said. "I love hitting people and I love yelling and screaming. It was the team dinners. It was just being with my brothers. I just love them so much."

Martinez, who finished with 12 receptions for 172 yards, said that they left it all on the field.

"We wanted to come out on top," Martinez said. "We just kept pushing. We were never going to give up."

Klupchak said that this team set a new standard for Maine West and their community.

"It is a remarkable group of guys," Klupchak said. "From January to August, that is when great football teams are made. This group did everything we asked them to do. That led into the tremendous results you have seen."