A Little Extra: Barrington-Maine South Fly the Friendly Offensive Skies
Broncos "Don't Flinch" in Wild Win; Hawks' Purcell Impressive in First Start; Impressive Beginning for MSL West; Palczewski Gets Solid Reviews in First NFL Start
After seeing the stats of Barrington’s 42-35 win at Maine South on Friday night, former Daily Herald colleague and friend Jim Wojciechowski said it “reads like a LaVell Edwards-era BYU-San Diego State boxscore.”
Edwards was ahead of his time in his 29 years as BYU’s head coach (1972-2000) with his prolific aerial attacks. One of his top pilots was a guy pretty well known around here named Jim McMahon. And some of the more entertaining college games ever pitted BYU against San Diego State and future Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk.
My response to “Woj” was I wished I could use Mountain or Pacific time for my Herald story deadlines. No such luck as it was a bit of a scramble to get the story done.
So there was plenty of leftover stuff from a night with 1,116 yards of total offense and 870 of it through the air. Maybe it was fitting that the early evening was a consistent stream of flyovers of Wilson Field in Park Ridge with planes landing at nearby O’Hare Airport.
Broncos “Don’t Flinch”
There was a common postgame theme from Barrington.
“You’ve just got to overcome adversity,” said senior receiver Paul Kondraros. “Coach (Joe) Sanchez says, ‘Don’t flinch,’ before games.”
In fact, Sanchez apparently said it a lot before this matchup between two of the top programs in the state. No one flinched when Sanchez and offensive coordinator Bryan Stortz went for it on fourth-and-5 at midfield in a 28-28 tie with 8:20 to play.
Kondraros and St. Thomas-bound quarterback Nick Peipert didn’t when they hooked up on a perfect connection deep down the middle for the touchdown that put the Broncos ahead to stay.
“In our meetings before the game, he (Sanchez) probably said it 10 times, ‘Don’t flinch, Don’t flinch,’” Peipert said after completing 20 of 28 passes for 400 yards and 4 touchdowns. “We knew they could come back and we knew they had a high-powered offense, but we didn’t flinch and it worked out for us.”
Peipert hit Austin Coles 6 times for 197 yards with a 71-yard touchdown to start the offensive fireworks. Matt Kania (7 catches, 115 yards) was on the receiving end of two touchdowns - a 19-yarder in the back of the end zone off a Peipert scramble 35.4 seconds before halftime and turning a quick pass in the slot into a 69-yarder for a 28-14 lead.
Calvin Jackson also rushed for 165 yards and touchdowns of 3 and 21 yards. The latter gave the Broncos a little breathing room at 42-28 with 4:03 to play.
It wasn’t perfect as Barrington lost 2 of its 7 fumbles and came up empty on drives to the Maine South 6 and 25. But it was enough for a 15th consecutive regular-season victory going into its Mid-Suburban West opener, homecoming game and celebration of 100 seasons of football at 1 p.m. Saturday against Conant.
“Coming in here and winning isn’t easy,” Sanchez said. “We found a way to win. We have a lot of growing up to do but it was a playoff-like game in a playoff-like atmosphere.
“We’ve got a lot to clean up, but I’m proud of the players and the coaches and the character they showed tonight to stick together and find a way to get it done.”
Magic Number - 42
Barrington’s 42 points Friday matched the winning total in four of the five playoff meetings it has had with Maine South.
The Broncos won 42-40 in last year’s quarterfinal and 42-34 in their first postseason meeting in 2006. The Hawks won 42-0 in 2008 and 42-27 in 2016.
“You know against a team like that you’ve gotta keep scoring,” Sanchez said. “If you look at the history of our games, as Dave (Maine South coach Inserra) and I are walking to midfield to shake hands, every time it’s a shootout. You know they’re capable of scoring and obviously we’re trying to get a stop but they made it a one-score game.”
The good news for Barrington was Peipert was able to run out the final two minutes three times for 41 yards after Maine South’s Jameson Purcell flipped a 14-yard touchdown pass to Michael Dellumo.
The bad news for Maine South’s opponents the rest of this year and the next two is Purcell went 33-for-46 for 470 yards and 4 touchdowns in his first start. He came on in relief in Week 3 for the last 12-plus minutes and threw for 112 yards.
Purcell’s top target was Jacob Vitel with 6 catches for 181 yards and touchdowns of 78, 11 and 53 yards. Joey Naughton had 10 catches for 107 yards, Mason Patras had 7 for 78 and Dellumo had 5 for 66. Constantine Coines, the starting quarterback last year and the first 3 games this season, caught 3 passes for 21 yards and also ran the ball five times.
“They were 1-2 coming in but they’ve played some of the best teams in the state of Illinois and they’re going to give you everything they’ve got,” Sanchez said. “We knew we’d get everything they have and we did.”
Maine South has lost 3 regular-season games on the field only one other time since its last losing season at 2-7 in 1991. That was in 2016 when it didn’t lose again and won the last of its six state titles.
Checking the Scorecard
The Mid-Suburban West went 19-5 in non-conference play with Barrington, Fremd, Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg all going undefeated. The best MSL West non-conference record was 20-4 in 2015 when five teams made the playoffs. The West also went 19-5 in 2013, 18-6 in 2016 and 17-7 in 2008.
The MSL went 11-1 last week and 20-4 in the crossover matchups with the CSL this year. Glenbrook North kept the CSL from getting shutout in Week 4.
The most wins by the MSL in the CSL crossover series was two years ago at 21-3.
CSL-MSL Crossovers
2024 - MSL 20-4
2023 - MSL 16-8
2022 - MSL 21-3
2021 - MSL 15-9
2020 (spring 2021) - none COVID-19
2019 - MSL 18-6
2018 - MSL 17-7
2017 - MSL 15-9
2016 - MSL 16-8
“Palcho” Impresses in First NFL Start
The reviews for Denver Broncos’ right tackle Alex Palczewski in his first NFL start were solid. The 2017 Prospect graduate stepped in for the injured Mike McGlinchey and the most important grade was a 26-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Ryan McFadden of the Denver Post wrote: “Palczewski — a second-year offensive lineman — held his own in his first career start at right tackle. He allowed only one pressure, as quarterback Bo Nix wasn’t sacked on 39 dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats. As a whole, the Broncos’ offensive line delivered their best performance of the season.”
Nick Kosmider, who covers the Broncos for The Athletic, tweeted: “Will take a closer look at the film when it comes out, but at first glance a strong first NFL start for Alex Palczewski. Only one pressure allowed, per TruMedia. Broncos did a good job helping him out, but there were plenty of 1-v-1s where he held his own.”
Scotty Miller (Barrington) had 2 catches for 31 yards as the Pittsburgh Steelers improved to 3-0 with a 20-10 win over the LA Chargers.
Tight end Eric Saubert (Hoffman Estates) had 2 catches for 41 yards for the San Francisco 49ers in their 27-24 loss to the LA Rams.
Second-year defensive end Lukas Van Ness (Barrington) got his first sack of the season and had 2 tackles as the Green Bay Packers improved to 2-1 with a 30-14 win over Tennessee.
Tight end Cole Kmet (St. Viator) also had a big day with 10 catches for 97 yards and a touchdown in the Bears disappointing 21-16 loss at Indianapolis.
Thursday Night Football features a sideline battle of former Fremd quarterbacks when the Dallas Cowboys (quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien) travel to face the New York Giants (outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen).
Local Connections to White Sox Drive to MLB History
The White Sox 4-2 loss at San Diego on Sunday broke the American League record for losses by the 2003 Tigers and tied the modern-day (since 1901) MLB record of 120 defeats by the 1962 Mets. Just a reminder that Rolling Meadows and Northern Illinois grad Brian Schmack, who is the head coach at Valparaiso University, kept the Tigers from matching or passing the Mets.
Schmack made his 11 big-league appearances in the final five weeks with the 2003 Tigers. His 3 scoreless innings in his final game allowed the Tigers to come back and beat the Twins in Game 161 and they won the season finale to finish 43-119.
And kudos to the former Herald colleague and fellow Sox sufferer Steve Zalusky for his recent story on Grayslake’s Jay Hook, who was one of the starting pitchers for the 1962 Mets. Any visit to the Grayslake Central gym also means a trip to see the picture of Hook on the school’s wall - albeit in a Reds uniform as he pitched for the 1961 NL champions.
Kevin Frey’s Son Goes Division I
Kody Frey, the son of former Maine West basketball star Kevin Frey, is a 6-foot-6 senior point guard in North Carolina who verbally committed this week to play at Division I Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. Fairleigh Dickinson was a huge story two years ago when it became only the second No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament when it stunned Purdue.
The all-state duo of Kevin Frey and Lucas Johnson led Jim Sullivan’s 1997-98 Maine West team to fourth place in the Class AA state tournament. Frey went on to play at Xavier and professionally and Johnson went to play at Illinois.
Benedictine Baseball ALS Fundraiser
Schaumburg grad and Benedictine University head baseball coach Adam Smith is all-too familiar with the pain of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, since his mom died from it at age 46. So, the Benedictine baseball fall fundraiser for ALS is a special cause for Smith.
Benedictine will host three games starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 5 and there will be a $5 entry fee, with all the proceeds going to The ALS Association. Benedictine plays Harper College in the first game, followed by Benedictine and Morton College at 1 p.m. and Harper and Morton at 4 p.m.
MSL Boys and Girls Golf State Tourney History
With the IHSA postseason starting next week for golf, check out the MSL Golf page for the history of the league’s boys and girls in the state tournament.