Palatine stuns Glenbard North
Jim Smearman and his Palatine teammates weren't receiving a lot of outside votes of confidence this week before their trip to Glenbard North for a Class 8A first-round playoff football game.
But the Pirates did their best to ignore any negative campaigning directed their way. They ended up receiving plenty of celebratory accolades Friday night in Carol Stream.
Smearman rushed for 122 yards and 3 touchdowns, Cody Bobbit rushed for 160 yards and a touchdown and the 14th-seeded Pirates (6-4) took advantage of 5 turnovers in a stunning 28-14 victory over the third-seeded Panthers (8-2) at Weber Field.
“Everyone was saying, ‘they're going to beat your butts,'” Smearman said after Palatine scored twice in the first six minutes en route to a 28-0 halftime lead. “I even had friends saying we weren't going to win but I had a confident feeling all week long. We had to come in and take it right to them.”
The Pirates took out one of last year's 8A state semifinalists with their first playoff victory since beating Lane Tech in the first round in 2007. They also likely picked up some believers for next week's second-round game against tonight's Barrington-Glenbrook South winner.
It was also Palatine's second straight win over a 1-loss team after it beat Barrington last week to secure its fourth straight playoff appearance.
“We had confidence and we were pretty pumped up,” said Palatine senior linebacker Rory Fritz, who helped fuel a defensive effort that kept the Panthers off the scoreboard until quarterback Mark Ng's 1-yard touchdown run with 1:49 left in the third quarter. “They're a great team but we wanted to prove our program against their program and see who was best.”
The Pirates wasted no time taking advantage of Dan Haze's fumble recovery on the first play of the game at the Glenbard North 43. Five plays later Smearman, whose didn't play in Week 8 and saw limited offensive duty last week with calf and hand injuries, powered in from 2 yards.
Haze and Bobbit also had interceptions and sophomore Jesse Bobbit had 2 interceptions. Glenbard North standout linebacker-running back Evin Natick, who is the team's second-leading rusher, played briefly in the first defensive series but coach Ryan Wilkens said he was unable to stay in the game with a leg injury.
“In the first half they really steamrolled us and did a good job offensively and defensively,” Wilkens said. “We turned the ball over, sure, but they executed on both sides.”
After a Glenbard North drive stalled at the Palatine 34, Bobbit got out to the right sideline and then cut back to the middle on an electrifying 66-yard touchdown run. Bobbit then found Smearman for the 2-point conversion and a 14-0 lead.
On fourth-and-1 from the 11, Smearman found the end zone to finish a 68-yard drive 2:45 before halftime. Jesse Bobbit's midfield interception 45 seconds later and his 33-yard grab of his brother Cody's pass set up Smearman's 2-yard touchdown run for a 28-0 lead 57 seconds before halftime.
Joe Landeck, C.J. Machnik, Tyler Farris, Nathan Gerdes and Josh Baldus paved the way to 296 yards rushing and 370 total yards against a Panthers' defense allowing only 205 per game.
“We came out and ran it right down their throats,” Smearman said. “We got great plays by Cody and great line play.”
Palatine's defense turned away three trips into its territory in the second half. Ng was 19-for-38 passing for 197 yards and Phil Jackson rushed for 118 yards on 25 carries with a 9-yard touchdown run with 2:39 to play.
“On any night we think we can play with anybody,” said Palatine coach Tyler Donnelly. “I don't know if we could beat them again, but we beat them tonight and that's all that matters.”