Barrington's defense does the job

Barrington's defense rode to the rescue.

That proved to be the difference in the Broncos' 21-14 win over visiting St. Patrick on Saturday night in the first round of the Class 8A playoffs.

With the game tied 14-14, the Shamrocks (6-4) were driving early in the fourth quarter when the Broncos' Anthony Gentile recovered a fumble at the Barrington 32-yard line.

"That was a key play among many," said Broncos coach Joe Sanchez.

The fumble recovery sparked the Broncos (8-2), who drove 68 yards in 13 plays to take the lead when Daniel Evers (5 catches, 59 yds) snared an 11 yard TD reception from quarterback Cody Seeger with 5:54 left in the game.

"We practice a few trick plays each week," said Seeger, who was 21 for 29 with 1 interception for 229 yards. "It's a fall-down screen pass. I just knew that it would work. This was a real physical game. Our passing game was there tonight, and we found a way to win."

Barrington defensive back Jason Taylor picked off a Dan DiCanio pass at the Broncos 23 with 5:09 left. While it did not turn into a score, it used up 1:20 of valuable time.

"I knew they would have to throw long at one point, and I was ready," Taylor said.

With 3:39 left in the game, DiCanio was tackled for a 4 yard loss, back to the Shamrocks 36. He took exception to the tackle and was given a 15-yard penalty. The Shamrocks' bench was then hit with a penalty to put the ball on the St. Patrick 11-yard line.

With: 03 left, Shamrocks reserve quarterback Keith Borum with tackled for a 8 yard loss by Alex Smith.

The Shamrocks took a 7-0 lead with 3:25 left in the first half on Ruben Ibarra's 22-yard interception return.

The Broncos countered by driving 63 yards to score on Seeger's 1 yard run as time expired to tie the game 7-7.

"It was a first down and when the referee placed the ball we were ready," Seeger said.

Seeger (17 carries, 55 yards) scored on a 25 yard run with 4:31 left in the third quarter to give the Broncos a 14-7 lead. Adam Nitsche (23 carries, 142 yard) tied the game 14-14 with nine seconds left in the quarter on a 22 yard run.

"It came down to some small things," said Shamrocks coach Dan Galante. "They caught up to our defense with their offense and made some adjustments."

"We just found a way to win," Sanchez said. "St. Pat's came out and gave us a fight. It was a great game. Nobody wanted to lose. Our defense just played a great game containing their option."