Palatine survives late Kenwood comeback to win season opener
Junior defensive end Eliaz Egbe took it upon himself to set a positive tone for the Palatine defense Saturday.
On his first play, Egbe sacked Kenwood quarterback Malachi Henigan. On the second play, Egbe smothered a jet sweep for no gain.
Palatine's defense did play very well, but it was a long game on a warm, sunny day at Lane Stadium. Kenwood, the defending Public League champion, scored two late touchdowns and had a chance to tie it on a two-point conversion with 2:05 left. But a slant pass sailed high and the Pirates ran out the clock for a 20-18 nonconference victory.
“First play, going out there and making that sack, setting the tone for our defense, felt amazing,” said Egbe, who has college offers from Tennessee, Illinois, Iowa State and Boston College. “I feel like every part, we did our job in this game. Offense did their job, defense did their job and just happy we got the win.”
This was the first victory for head coach Chad Bobbit, a longtime Palatine assistant who took over for Corey Olson this year. For Bobbit, this one brought back memories of the 2007 season, when the Pirates played their first playoff game in 10 years on the same field and beat Lane Tech.
“It was really special to come back here in this atmosphere,” said Bobbit, a 2010 Palatine grad. “This senior group, they won zero games as sophomores. A lot of people don't know that, they went 0-7-2. I just couldn't be more happy for those seniors. I'm glad they got rewarded.”
Palatine's offense wasn't always a well-oiled machine, but quarterback Brandon Martino threw a pair of 7-yard touchdown passes in the first half — to Tristan Corrado and Jayden Evans — giving the Pirates a 13-6 lead at halftime.
The biggest play of the first half was turned in by sophomore Christian Marley, whose 68-yard kickoff return set up Palatine's first touchdown. Late in the third quarter, Martino tossed his third TD of the day, a 17-yarder to Brennan Wright.
After recovering a muffed punt return, the Pirates were headed for another score, but Kenwood's Dakota Blackman punched the ball loose after a long completion and the Broncos recovered.
The next play couldn't have summed up this game any better. Henigan scrambled out of traffic, broke several tackles and was finally driven out of bounds after a 45-yard gain, with the majority of the 22 players on the field landing in a pile along Kenwood's sideline.
Henigan then launched two perfectly thrown long balls for a 26-yard TD to heavily recruited receiver Lawrence Carr, then a 39-yarder to Paris Embry that gave Kenwood a chance to tie.
They ran a slant route for Carr on the 2-point play and he was open, but Henigan put too much on it and the ball sailed over Carr's head.
“That's one thing about our kids, we're always going to fight,” Kenwood coach Chris Goffer said. “I always let them know we're never out of the game. If there's a will, there's a way. If there's time on the clock, we've got an opportunity. We've just got to execute. This is a young team and it's a team that's going to get better.”
Kenwood was plagued by a number of dead-ball penalties. Carr finished with 5 catches for 60 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Palatine senior receiver Tim Bello kept a couple drives alive with impressive, acrobatic catches. He finished with 5 receptions for 43 yards, while Martino went 16 of 22 through the air for 154 yards. Sophomore running back Chase Klipowicz was a workhorse, producing 90 combined rushing and receiving yards.
“Week 1, any mentor I've ever had has talked about the team that makes less mistakes is likely to come out on top,” Bobbit said. “For us, the pillars of our program — work hard, compete, team first — you saw those things happen. When we made those mistakes, nobody got on each other, they stayed together and made the next play.”