Pirates thinking playoffs

There was no shortage of energy and enthusiasm at Palatine's football practice Tuesday afternoon.

Not a surprise considering the Pirates were coming off a big 35-7 victory over Barrington to put them a win away from ending a 10-year postseason drought.

But third-year Palatine coach Tyler Donnelly has rarely been surprised by his team's approach this year.

"They came out after the Fremd loss (two weeks ago) and that's how they practiced," Donnelly said.

And that helps explain why the 4-3 Pirates have doubled their win total of last year going into Saturday's 1:30 p.m. Mid-Suburban West battle for a playoff spot at 4-3 Schaumburg.

"We have a better mental attitude than last year," said Palatine senior outside linebacker/defensive back Brett Chidester. "This year we're two-platooning on defense and that's helped us out a lot more. We're getting a lot done in practice."

When Chidester was a sophomore, he threw 2 touchdown passes as the starting quarterback in a win at Schaumburg.

Now he'll be trying to stop the Saxons' dangerous offense led by running back Mick Trimarco and quarterback Cody Logsdon.

"It's going to be a great game since both of us are 1 win away from the playoffs," Chidester said of two teams that will have playoff points to spare if they finish 5-4.

Another big difference for the Pirates has been the much-improved defense that includes Chidester, linebackers Ryan Hourigan and Ryan Cortez and defensive end Monroe Brooks.

"I love quarterback, but playing defense is a big honor, especially with the way we're playing this season," Chidester said. "(Two years ago) was fun, but this year winning is big."

And the big boys up front -- seniors Conor Hanley, Casey McCabe, Taylor Aiello, Kevin Mitchell and Drew Peterson -- are paving the way.

The Pirates powered to 474 total yards last week as Chris Norman, Dan Sutton and Tom Eanes combined for 292 rushing and Matt Rossi threw for 156 with 2 touchdowns to Mookie Williams and one to Eanes.

"Everyone was smiling in the huddle," Peterson said of a lineman's dream game he credited to Donnelly and line coach Mike Hernon. "Even on third downs we said, 'We're going to get this.'

"And when the defense does a great job it's a great feeling, too."

Now they hope to recapture the feeling of going to the postseason that was the norm at Palatine from 1986-97.

"The kids are focused and they want to make history for us," Donnelly said.

"It's great," Peterson said of playing in a game of this magnitude at this stage. "Freshman year we all said to each other this is what we wanted to do. Bring respect back and the pride back."

Wild comeback: Wheeling had 24 minutes to turn a 15-point halftime deficit into a dramatic 25-21 win last week against Prospect.

And defensive coordinator Brian Hauck and offensive coordinator Matt Mishler had the plan to make it happen.

"It was really kind of funny," said Wheeling coach Dave Dunbar. "At halftime coach Hauck said, 'We're going to kickoff to them and after the kickoff we're going to get a fumble recovery and give the ball back to the offense.

"Matt said, 'We can score 3 touchdowns, don't you think we can score 3 touchdowns in a half?' The guys said, 'Yeah, we can do that.'"

The Wildcats produced 6 turnovers -- 3 fumble recoveries by linebacker Danny Vargas, another by Josh McCormick and 2 interceptions by Tom Zidron.

It took awhile for the offense to hold up its end of the bargain. But fourth-quarter touchdowns in a span of just 4:16 on runs by Abel Rangel and quarterback Matt Holmes and James Kurtz's catch from Holmes completed the plan to perfection.

"It's been quite a while since we had an outing like that," Dunbar said.

And the Wildcats did it without one of their top players -- senior linebacker/guard Justin Arvidson -- who will return from an ankle injury for tonight's game with Hersey.

Senior M.J. Schuetz helped the offensive resurgence.

"He had to step it up and he did a decent job filling in at Justin's right guard position," Dunbar said. "He works hard and he's a great kid. He does what you ask him to do."

Now Dunbar is asking his team to forget last week and focus on this week as the Wildcats continue their drive toward their first playoff berth since 1996.

"What we've been telling our guys is, 'OK, we're glad you guys enjoyed that win and the homecoming dance,' " Dunbar said. "Now it's time to move on because this is (Hersey's) senior night and they're coming ready to play.

"We have to prepare and do our best against Hersey now."

Coach K is OK: St. Viator coach Chris Kirkpatrick smiled when he was asked what doctors told him to do after he had to go to the hospital during last Friday's game with St. Joseph.

"Cut out some stress," Kirkpatrick said.

Kirkpatrick said he felt fine before last Friday's game. He was taken away in an ambulance and said no heart trouble was detected.

"I was yelling and then I felt like I was going to pass out and went down to one knee," Kirkpatrick said.

Eliminating stress won't be easy for Kirkpatrick because it isn't going to be easy for the 4-3 Lions to extend their streak of playoff trips to four seasons.

They will likely need to beat 6-1 Carmel at home tonight and 4-3 Nazareth next Saturday in LaGrange Park.

"I feel we're in a situation where we need to win our next two games," Kirkpatrick said of the Lions' potential 33-34 playoff points probably not being enough to make the field at 5-4.

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Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com

Wheeling's Abel Rangel heads for a touchdown on the opening kickoff return last Friday against Prospect.