Fremd goes old school in win over Palatine
Fremd played old school football on the school's new turf Friday. The result was a dominating 24-7 victory over cross-town rival Palatine in the first round of the Class 8A football playoffs.
The No. 8 Vikings (8-2) advance to next weekend's second round on the road against No. 1 Bartlett (10-0), a 10-7 winner over Notre Dame.
"That's the first time all year we've been under center," said Fremd coach Mike Donatucci, who became the all-time winningest Mid-Suburban League coach with his 116th victory. "Steve (Patton, offensive coordinator) did a great job attacking them with the run. We wore them down."
The Vikings, who operated out of the spread formation all season, went back to playing the type of I-formation, power football for which they're best known, and they responded with 203 yards rushing, 113 by Mike Gyetvay.
The Fremd defense played classic old-school football, too, limiting the No. 9 seed Pirates (7-3) to minus-9 yards rushing. Fremd came within 47.2 seconds of a shutout, a streak of scoreless quarters against Palatine that nearly reached six, dating to the second half of their regular-season clash three weeks ago.
"We were embarrassed by that (28-21) loss," said defensive end Ben Perna. "We played well in the second half (in the first game), and we were confident in the defense."
"We knew we had to press them and be physical," said Perna's cohort at linebacker, Jon Diegel. "They have lots of threats. We wanted to come out and make a statement. We wanted to leave no doubt who the best team in this town is."
"I thought our offensive line struggled to match their intensity," Palatine coach Tyler Donnelly said. "(The running game) was nonexistent. What we needed to do was hit the big routes and loosen them up."
Despite Fremd's defensive efforts, that doubt lingered in the first half, when the only points on the board came on a Brett Opitz 21-yard field goal with 3:21 left in the second quarter.
"I thought our defense played really well," Donnelly said.
After Evan Wright returned the second half kickoff 39 yards to his own 42, Mike Tauchman directed a 13-play, 58-yard drive that ended when Wright scored from 12 yards out with 6:23 left in the quarter. In the third quarter, Fremd ran 23 plays to just 4 for the Pirates.
Gyetvay's 5-yard touchdown run with 8:37 left in the game gave the Vikings a 17-0 lead, and all that was in doubt was whether the defense could complete the shutout.
Matt Rossi (17-of-32 for 196 yards and 5 interceptions) drove the Pirates 82 yards in 14 plays for a touchdown, a 5-yard pass to his favorite receiver, Jose Munoz, who finished the game with 10 catches for 134 yards.
Zenon Kolakowski sealed the deal when he intercepted Rossi and raced 64 yards for the final scored with 25.7 seconds left. Perna's block on Rossi cleared the way for Kolakowski.
Tauchman, who rushed for 70 yards and intercepted 3 passes, also punted for a 40.8-yard average and returned punts for the Vikings.
"He's a tremendous competitor, that's all there is to it," Donatucci said.
"Making big plays on defense is an adrenaline rush," Tauchman said of playing all but a dozen plays against Palatine. "But playing quarterback you have to stay calm."