Early lead slips away in Glenbard North’s narrow 2nd round playoff loss
Football can truly be a game of inches.
Trailing Richards by three points in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Class 7A second round playoff contest, Glenbard North appeared to grab the lead on a 42-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Logan Kramer to Owen Miller.
However, officials saw it differently, ruling Kramer crossed the line of scrimmage before tossing the pass, nullifying the go-ahead touchdown while eventually forcing the Panthers to punt with 4:21 remaining.
Glenbard North (5-7) never got the ball back during its 21-18 season-ending loss to the 11th-seeded Bulldogs (9-2) in Carol Stream.
“You wish you had instant replay so you could go back and see it,” said Panthers coach Justin Kerwin.
The Panthers’ defense had the unenviable task of trying to harness Richards junior running back Jordan Lewis, who carried the ball 37 times for 292 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
“That kid was running over us,” said Panthers senior two-way standout Angelo Gatses, who ran for 109 yards on 23 carries.
“He was tough to stop,” Kerwin said of Lewis, whose 63-yard touchdown run extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 21-10 midway through the third quarter. “They play so physical.
“We came up short today.”
The game started in positive fashion for the 38th-seeded Panthers, as Kramer capped an eight-play, 50-yard drive with a one-yard keeper to make it 7-0 late in the first quarter.
Gatses’ two-yard run on a fourth-and-two play from the Bulldogs’ 42-yard line kept the drive alive — with an assisted push from sophomore offensive lineman Joshua Keenan.
The Panthers’ lead swelled to 10-0 following Anthony Gibson’s 30-yard field goal, but Richards answered with two long scoring drives before halftime.
Quarterback Eric Jacobs (16 carries, 121 yards) capped a 10-play, 98-yard drive with an eight-yard touchdown run before Lewis’ two-yard scoring run highlighted a 10-play, 88-yard march to put the Bulldogs on top 14-10 with 20 seconds left in the second quarter.
Following Lewis’ second touchdown of the game, the Panthers answered on Kramer’s 31-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Michael Barnes III (five catches, 138 yards), and two-point conversion pass from Kramer to sophomore Aiden Hvorcik with 3:36 left in the third quarter.
Richards advances to next week’s quarterfinal clash with Downers Grove North (10-1).
Glenbard North, which finished 1-6 in the rugged DuKane Conference, made the most of the expanded postseason.
“The guys started back in January lifting, and here we are in November,” said Kerwin. “For the younger guys when you think about it, we played three more weeks. That’s an extra third of a season.
“The kids played hard all season. We asked a lot of them to go both ways.”
That group included Gatses, who played Saturday with a partially torn knee ligament.
“This year was special,” said Gatses, who finished the season with 20 rushing touchdowns. “We got together as seniors before the season and told ourselves we were going to enjoy every practice.
“We became a family.”