MSL to NFL: Schaumburg's Kittner Had Memorable Show in Loss to Barrington
Future Illinois Star, NFL QB Produced Yardage Total Among the Best in State History in 1997
Watching Barrington’s Nick Peipert and Maine South’s Jameson Purcell fill the air with footballs last Friday in Park Ridge and seeing Dan Pohlman as an assistant coach on the Broncos’ sideline was a reminder of how much high school offenses have evolved in the last 30 years.
Calling 400 yards passing in a game commonplace wouldn’t be accurate, which Peipert and Purcell were right around 72 percent of the time en route to 400 and 470 yards respectively. But that passing yardage doesn’t even come near the top 20 in state history in a game according to the records on the IHSA website. The two players tied for 19th are at 513.
It was much different back in mid-September 1997 when Pohlman was a sophomore and Barrington went to Schaumburg for a Saturday afternoon Week 3 Mid-Suburban League crossover. Thankfully that made deadlines no concern unlike last week at Maine South.
Schaumburg had Illinois recruit Kurt Kittner at the controls of “Air Cerasani,” one of the more prolific and progressive passing attacks of that era, run by head coach Tom Cerasani and offensive coordinator Mark Steger. Kittner was coming off a 262-yard passing game in a win over Buffalo Grove where he said “I played like crap.”
That wouldn’t be the case in what was also one of the more memorable games in a Barrington program that will celebrate its 100th season during Saturday afternoon’s homecoming game with Conant.
Pohlman rushed for 126 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Broncos took a 19-point lead with just less than six minutes to play. But they had to hang on for a wild 42-39 victory as Kittner completed 31-of-51 passes for 449 yards and 4 touchdowns.
“It wasn’t fun for the last three hours but it’s fun now,” Barrington coach Al Kamradt said afterward.
Nor was passing for the fifth-highest yardage total in state history at that time as fun as it could have been for Kittner. The even-keeled demeanor of the future Illinois star and NFL quarterback was not indicative of a drive to succeed - moreso on the scoreboard than on the stat sheet.
“I was guessing around 300 or something,” Kittner said after breaking his own school record of 366 yards. “That’s a lot of yards - almost my total for two games (516). I’d much rather be 3-0.
“It’s what we do and if they stop it … but they couldn’t and we were right in the game until the end. Our receivers did a great job and caught the ball all the time. There weren’t many drops at all.”
Kevin Gleeson’s 15 catches for 299 yards both ranked second in state history at the time and that included all of Kittner’s touchdown passes. The catches no longer make the top 20 but the receiving yardage still narrowly makes the top 20 cut. Scott Steger also caught 11 passes for 109 yards. But Kittner also lamented his own early fumble that cost the Saxons a touchdown.
At that time the state record for passing yards in a game was 529 by Jason Stanicek of Rich East in 1990. That’s the only game prior to 2000 still in the IHSA top 20 and the record is now 675 by Brian Johnson of Willowbrook in 2013. Kittner had broken the MSL record of 407 by Buffalo Grove’s Brendan Doyle in 1994.
And it wasn’t as if Kittner was just picking apart a bad team. Barrington reached the second round of the Class 6A playoffs and the following year went 13-1 with a loss in the 6A title game to Wheaton Warrenville South. Brian Niven, who is now the school’s boys lacrosse coach, had 2 of the 4 sacks on Kittner.
“He’s a heck of a thrower,” Kamradt said. “He’s one of the best I’ve seen in this conference.”
Unfortunately, MSL fans would see Kittner’s passing ability for just one more half, where he had 232 yards the following week against Palatine. A torn tendon in his thumb would end his season under center at 1,197 yards in 3½ games.
But Kittner’s season wasn’t over. He came back to play the last three games at outside linebacker with basically a club wrapped around his right hand. Imagine a big-time Big Ten-bound quarterback doing that today!
Illinois was 0-11 the year before Kittner arrived and he would start as a true freshman for head coach Ron Turner. Kittner led Illinois to two bowl games along with a Big Ten title and No. 12 final Associated Press poll ranking as a senior. He still holds the Illinois career record for touchdown passes with 70 (against only 32 interceptions) and his 8,722 yards was just 3 shy of the school mark.
Kittner was drafted in the fifth round by the Falcons in 2002. He played 7 games and started four and had 2 touchdown passes and 6 interceptions. He was also the NFL Europe World Bowl MVP in 2005 and a Bears backup (but didn’t see any action) before going on to a successful career in corporate real estate and a nice run as an Illinois football radio analyst.
The numbers from that Saturday afternoon against Barrington may not look as big as they once did. But I’m still with Al Kamradt that Kurt Kittner was one of the best quarterbacks anyone has seen in MSL history.