Smearman, Palatine reign over Hoffman
It might not have been the most ideal weather situation for a quarterback to be making his first varsity start.
But Friday's night's seemingly nonstop rain at Chic Anderson Stadium hardly fazed junior Jimmy Smearman, who was filling in for injured classmate Cody Bobbit.
All Smearman did was rush for 3 touchdowns and throw for two more as the Pirates became playoff eligible with a 42-6 triumph over Hoffman Estates.
As if that wasn't enough, Smearman threw in some solid work as a linebacker on defense.
"We told him he played really well," said Pirates coach Tyler Donnelly, whose team improved to 5-1 and 1-1 in the Mid-Suburban West. "And on defense, too. He's just a hard-nosed kid and he played well in these weather conditions. He's really a tough competitor."
Hoffman coach Bill Helzer, who liked the way his team (0-6, 0-2) began the contest, credited the Pirates.
"That's a good team," he said. "They overcame the loss of their quarterback (expected back next week from a shoulder injury). They are in the playoffs for a reason."
One reason Smearman was able to run for 112 yards and pass for 184 yards was the offensive line work of Connor Gannon, Adam Dreger, Tyler Farris, Gerardo Rodriguez, Adam Schroeder and Joe Landeck.
They helped spring senior Joe Pelnar for 108 rushing yards.
Smearman used the line's protection on the Pirates' second offensive play of the game when he found Mike Luschen for a 69-yard TD pass just 3:05 into the game.
Hoffman did not allow another TD until 9:01 of the second quarter when Smearman capped a 59-yard drive with a 28-yard run on third-and-8.
The hosts added 2 more first-half TDs for their Homecoming crowd.
The first came when Smearman ran around right end for 5 yards to complete a 75-yard TD march with 3:54 left.
Four plays later, the Palatine defense held Hoffman on fourth-and-inches and Smearman needed five pays to take the offense 60 yards. The Pirates went ahead 28-0 when he tossed a 17-yard TD strike to Luschen (4 catches, 111 yards) with 33.4 seconds left in the half.
Palatine's defensive line came up with some big plays and senior linebacker Phil Brand served as a spark.
"He was out with a sprained neck last week," Donnelly said. "He had a lot of big hits."
Smearman added an 18-yard run with 5:51 left in the third quarter and Chad Bobbit scored on a 5-yard run with 2:04 left in the third quarter to initiate the running clock.
Hoffman's touchdown came on its last play of the game when Krunal Patel raced 40 yards.
"I liked our first quarter," Helzer said. "Unfortunately, you can't just play one quarter, I thought our offensive line (Carlos Tapia, Jacob Uhunmwangho, Alex Kim, Alex Knapik and Boris Tomas) did a nice job. It was only 7-0 in the first quarter but you can't march down the field and not score points. We didn't take advantage of the opportunity to come here and show what we could do."