Glenbard North pushes forward; Palatine falls
And it was just that kind of effort that saw the Panthers win their second straight Class 8A playoff game -- a 35-13 upset of York.
"We were really focused," Glenbard North defensive lineman Kyle Schwetz said. "We've been waiting for this. We thought just about this game, not the next, and we kept pushing forward."
Glenbard North (7-4) kept York (8-3) off the scoreboard until late in the fourth quarter and limited the Dukes' offensive effectiveness until very late in the contest.
"They have a big O-line and it was hard," Schwetz said. "We just fought past them, stayed low and drove them."
After a 5-4 regular season, Glenbard North finds itself 2-0 in the postseason and awaits the winner of tonight's Loyola-Fremd ballgame.
"At the beginning of the year, we kind of stumbled," Schwetz said. "We're finally getting together and are putting it through."
Based on Friday's performance, no one would have known Glenbard North needed a Week 9 win over West Aurora to make the playoffs.
"We have a feeling we can take down anyone in the state right now, and we feel we can compete with anyone," Glenbard North quarterback Evan Watkins said.
Both facets of Glenbard North's offense clicked. Tyler Doll gained 125 yards on 28 carries, scored 1 touchdown and chewed huge chunks off the game clock.
Watkins was 9-of-10 passing for 195 yards and 3 touchdowns. Overall, the Panthers gained 349 offensive yards.
"We were prepared," Watkins said. "We knew what to expect and what they were going to come with. We had great play-calling all night. The line was doing well, and we were clicking on offense."
York struggled just as Glenbard North excelled. The Dukes drove late in the first half and did not score, trailing 21-0 at intermission.
Needing a momentum-building defensive stop at the start of the second half, York saw Glenbard North score in 3 plays. The offense then drove deep into Panthers territory before the drive stalled at the 8.
"We came flat the first couple of series," York wide receiver Luke Regole said. "We had to change up things because we couldn't get anything going."
Regole had 11 catches for 124 yards and was Tom Judge's prime target. Judge finished with 208 yards passing.
The Dukes broke the shutout when Spencer Ingle ran in from 3 yards with four minutes left. York recovered the onside kickoff and scored again, but time ran out on the team's season.
"We've had a lot of fun this season," Regole said. "We came out and showed people what York football is. Through the season we saw ourselves growing and getting better and better."
Mt. Carmel 34, Palatine 0: All the practice in the world couldn't have prepared Palatine for the speed of Mt. Carmel's Tim Brown.
The 5-foot-8, 180-pound speedster burned Palatine's defense for first-half touchdown runs of 88 and 92 yards and opened the second half with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Coach Frank Lenti gave him the rest of the night off after gaining 191 yards in 6 carries in the No. 1-seeded Caravan's 34-0 victory over the host Pirates on Friday in the second round of the Class 8A football playoffs at Chic Anderson Stadium.
The No. 9-seeded Pirates (7-4) seemed to be on their way to tying the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter when a drive that started on their own 22 stalled on the Mt. Carmel 34, thanks to an offensive pass interference penalty. Jack Hansen's punt pinned the Caravan (11-0) on their own 8-yard line, but Brown burst through the line on the second play and outran the Palatine secondary.
"They do that all the time," said Palatine coach Tyler Donnelly. "You can do well for a while and then miss on one play. They've got good backs, and we're not fast in the secondary."
The Pirates moved the ball well on their next possession only to be turned away again. Matt Rossi (13-of-24 for 127 yards) completed 4 passes for 37 yards, and his 5-yard scramble moved the ball to the Caravan 8. A pair of incomplete passes ended that threat.
"The coaches thought we could pass, and it worked well early," said Chris Norman, who rushed for 53 yards on 7 carries.
Mt. Carmel stretched the lead to 20-0 with 1:14 left in the half when Brown burst through the line for his 92-yard touchdown, the same play that produced his first score.
"Timmy had a great night," said Mt. Carmel coach Frank Lenti. "The beauty of our style is there are so many things we can do."
In addition to Brown, the Caravan relied on Edwin Williams (21 carries, 89 yards), who scored the first touchdown, and sophomore Denzel Thompson (4 carries, 57 yards, all in the second half).
Mt. Carmel's final score came on a 41-yard pass from Jordan Lynch to tight end Jordan Morgan with 6:03 left in the third quarter.
Though they were out of the game, the Pirates turned in a spirited goal-line stand, stopping Mt. Carmel with 3:21 left, stuffing Williams on the 1-yard line.
Rossi then directed a drive that included 2 completions to Nick Busch (6 catches for 43 yards) and a 27-yarder to Tom Eanes on the Caravan 20 with 5.4 seconds left in the game. Rossi's pass to Busch was batted away in the end zone as time expired.
"We were moving the ball effectively until we got to the red zone," Rossi said. "We just couldn't finish."
"We had opportunities that we'd maybe get it in, and just didn't," Donnelly said.
Donnelly said he was proud of his team's first playoff run in 11 years and found Friday's game a valuable learning experience.
"That's why you want to be in the playoffs," Donnelly said. "They (Mt. Carmel) might be in the north bracket again, and it shows us what we have to do to compete with them. When we lose, we learn."
Dan Sutton led the Pirates with 62 yards on 9 carries, and Eanes added 30 in 8 tries. Mookie Williams caught 3 passes for 26 yards, and Eanes had a pair of catches for 37 yards.
-- Larry Weindruch
Lincoln-Way East 43, Neuqua Valley 14: When you've essentially been playing -- and winning -- playoff games since Oct. 5, as the Neuqua Valley football team has after starting the season 2-4, the emotional toll can be draining.
The Wildcats found out just how draining Friday night as they tried time and time again to tap into that reserve of emotional energy but kept coming up empty in a season-ending 43-14 Class 8A second-round playoff defeat to visiting Lincoln-Way East.
"I think we showed quite a bit of resiliency this year," said Neuqua Valley coach Bryan Wells. "I think if you look, there are not many teams in the state that started 1-3 (or 2-4) and made the playoffs, but it takes an emotional toll to get here.
"It's been a hard push to get to this point, but I felt that if we got through this one, we might've pushed all the way through."
It didn't help that the 14th-seeded Wildcats (6-5), fresh off an upset of No. 3 Lyons Twp., were facing a No. 6 Lincoln-Way East team that appears to be rounding into tip-top shape. After controlling Naperville Central in their playoff opener, the Griffins (9-2) dominated all categories in stifling the Wildcats.
Running backs Dan Cebula and Lloyd Burchett both eclipsed the 100-yard mark by halftime, Lincoln-Way East finished with 308 yards on the ground and quarterback Spencer Stanek threw 3 touchdown passes, while the defense held the Wildcats to 43 yards rushing, intercepted 3 passes and recorded 4 sacks and a safety.
"For the second round of the playoffs to come out and roll like this, it's something special," said Cebula, who had touchdown runs of 1 and 35 yards in the second quarter. "We just got it going and they couldn't figure out what to stop."
The Griffins opened the scoring late in the first quarter on Stanek's 3-yard toss to Dan Fiorenza. Cebula then sandwiched his TD runs around Stanek's swing pass to Burchett, who took it 29 yards to paydirt as Lincoln-Way East sprinted to a 28-0 lead.
Neuqua Valley was able to garner a slight glimmer of hope when Josh Schaeffer wove 56 yards with a short Alex Lincoln pass to make it 28-7 at the half.
The glimmer was extinguished in the third quarter when Burchett swept 4 yards for a score, Lincoln slipped in his own end zone for a safety and Stanek connected with Kyle Smith for a 29-yard score and 43-7 lead. Ryan Brown's 6-yard hookup with Regi Miskel gave the Wildcats a consolation score with one minute to play.
-- Chris Traczek
Naperville North 37, Bolingbrook 14: Against a strong football team like Bolingbrook, you have to take advantage of your opportunities, something Naperville North struggled to do for a half.
Fortunately for the Huskies, however, it didn't matter for a couple of reasons.
First, while the offense let some golden scoring chances slip away in the first half of its Class 8A second-round playoff game, the defense was dominating a potent Raiders attack.
Secondly, the offense dominated in the second half, taking advantage of every opportunity to build its 14-0 halftime lead into a 37-14 win that moves Naperville North (10-1) into the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2000.
Quarterback Jordan Tassio, who opened the game's scoring with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tom Walsh, capped off the Huskies' first drive of the second half with a 21-yard field goal. He later added a 13-yard TD run and even caught a 9-yard scoring pass from Tom Costantino on a halfback option play.
But as great as Tassio was, it was tailback Nick Mlady and the Huskies defense who really stole the show.
Mlady rushed for 233 yards and 1 TD on 19 carries, while the Huskies defensive unit limited Bolingbrook star back Eric Smith to just 63 yards on 15 carries.
"In the first half we had a whole lot of opportunities that we didn't take advantage of," said Mlady, whose Huskies will play at Lincoln-Way East next weekend with a berth in the state semifinals on the line. "But the offensive line kept opening up holes and we executed well in the second half."
Bolingbrook coach John Ivlow, whose team reached the quarterfinals last season, was impressed with how well the Huskies played against his Raiders (8-3).
"They're very good," he said. "We knew that coming in, but boy did they show it. They're deceivingly physical. They're the best team we faced all year by far."
The Huskies were stopped at the goal line on their first possession of the night, had another drive come up inches short on fourth down, and Mlady lost a fumble in Raiders territory late in the half. Yet the hosts led 14-0 as Mlady totaled more yards in the first half (164) than the Huskies defense allowed.
"Obviously, we focused on Eric Smith, who is an amazing back, but coaches told us turnovers would win this game," said Naperville North linebacker Andre Crawford, whose fumble recovery set up Walsh's TD catch. "(The year) 2000 was the last time we got to the third round. We're so happy. This is the road to Champaign."
With Tassio, Mlady and Costantino all coming up big, the Huskies built a 31-0 lead early in the fourth quarter. Dave Hess and Ben Kelsey helped out with a pair of interceptions as the Huskies won the turnover battle 3-1.
"The defense did a great job," Huskies coach Larry McKeon said. "It seemed like different players stepped up on every play. It always feels good to win no matter if it's the first round or the last round. But it's nice to get back to the quarters."
-- Stan Goff