Osterhues carries Barrington to road win over Sandburg

With 11 sets of eyes on him at all times, Barrington running back Lamar Osterhues will sometimes go four or five carries in a row without gaining much ground.

But that sixth carry, he could be long gone.

Osterhues finished with 214 rushing yards on 30 carries, and the Broncos went down to the South suburbs to beat No. 9 seed Sandburg 24-17 in the first round of the Class 8A playoffs Friday night.

Barrington (7-4) will travel to four-time defending champ Mount Carmel (8-2) next week.

Osterhues had 14 runs of one yard or less but also a 46-yard touchdown, plus gains of 24, 28 and 38 yards. And that's with 30 carries on the night in Week 11.

“It's been all my life. It's normal to me,” the junior running back said of his heavy work load. “I love this game. Whether it's 30 carries, 40 carries, I'll do whatever it takes. I've got to say dead lift (is my favorite exercise), it gets my legs ready and gets my legs explosive for the season.”

Barrington got the winning touchdown by using Osterhues as a decoy. Vince Costa slid over from receiver to quarterback, which he typically does a few times every game, faked a give to Osterhues and went 29 yards up the middle for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:36 left in the third quarter.

“They're all focused on Lamar,” Costa said. “He's doing fake tosses, I go right up the middle and they're all running with him. Safety up top, put my foot in the ground and I'm out of there.”

Both players talked about making up for last year's losing playoff road trip to Lockport. But this was also similar to Week 1, when the Broncos traveled to Lyons with high expectations, took a loss and ended up with an 0-4 record to start the year. Now this was their seventh straight win.

“Everything that we experienced at the beginning of the year prepared us for this,” Barrington coach Joe Sanchez said. “To take a long road trip, play a great team. To try to end anybody's season is so hard, but to try to end it on their home field is even harder. You saw how hard those guys were fighting until the end.”

Protecting the one-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter, the Broncos got an interception by Duke Matiyow. But Sandburg flipped field position and took over at the Barrington 41-yard line after a punt with 3:04 on the clock.

The Eagles got one first down before Barrington's Kane Switski dropped quarterback Sean Ruisz for a loss on third down. Sandburg's fourth-down pass sailed incomplete with 51 seconds left, and the Broncos took over.

It was a difficult season for Ruisz, who returned from surgery for a torn labrum and missed all of summer practice before returning to the lineup in Week 2.

“Coming off surgery, it was tough,” Ruisz said. “I had high hopes for these boys. I know I was the quarterback last year, but coming off a surgery like that and being questionable Week 1. Summer camp was tough and practice was tough, but these boys took me in and I really thank them for that. It really made this year something better than it should have been.”

Sandburg got on the scoreboard first after an interception by linebacker Barret Sigel set up the Eagles at the Barrington 10-yard line. Ruisz ran it in on fourth down from the one.

Osterhues was held in check on the Broncos' first two drives but broke loose for a 28-yard gain, then a 46-yard touchdown to tie the score. Barrington got the ball right back and an Osterhues 24-yard run to the two set up his second touchdown.

The Eagles answered right back with a 64-yard run by Vinny Annel, his only carry of the first half, which knotted the score 14-14 heading into halftime.