Palatine 52, Hoffman Estates 21
If momentum means anything heading into the state playoffs, Palatine's football team means business.
For the third straight week, the Pirates' offense appeared nearly unstoppable as the Mid-Suburban West runner-ups capped the regular season on Friday night with a 52-21 triumph over visiting Hoffman Estates at Chic Anderson Stadium.
On the rushing side, Christopher Norman (12 carries, 166 yards) exploded for touchdown runs of 71, 50 and 5 yards. Daniel Sutton (21 carries, 142 yards) raced for 10- and 1-yard touchdowns and Ronald Lampen scampered 21 yards for the game's final TD.
On the passing side, quarterback Matthew Rossi (12-of-14, 106 yards) flipped TD strikes of 7 and 9 yards to James Silveira (5 catches, 50 yards).
On the punting side?
Forget it. The Pirates (6-3, 4-1) never had to call on Jack Hansen, who punted just once the week before.
"When they needed a pass, they got it. When they needed a run, they got it," said Hoffman coach Bill Helzer. "It feels like we got hit by a Mack Truck. Their O-line is fabulous. No offense to anyone else, but that's the best one we've seen in the conference."
The men up front for Palatine -- Andrew Peterson, Kevin Dann, Casey McCabe, Kevin Mitchell and Taylor Aiello -- paved the way for 573 yards of offense, coming off back-to-back 400-plus games.
"It feels great," Aiello said. "We've all pretty much been a group since freshman year. But this is a team game. It's not all about the O-line. It's about the running backs, the wide receivers, the quarterback, the defense, everyone."
Friday night was also about the Palatine seniors.
"This has been four years in the making, so to get two touchdowns on Senior's Night isn't bad," said the speedy Sutton.
Hoffman (2-7, 1-4) scored on a 12-yard run by at Pat Kathan, an 85-yard kickoff return by Mike Swedlund and a 60-yard fumble recovery by Andrew Pettit.
Helping spark the Pirates' defense were linebacker Ryan Cortez, defensive back Hansen (interception) and lineman Nicholas Venegas.
"We did what we had to do," said Pirates coach Tyler Donnelly. "Offensively, I thought we played well. We dug ourselves some holes with penalties (11-65), but were able to get out of a lot out them."
"In my opinion, that's probably the best offense we've seen all season," Helzer added. "They've got it all. They got us good."