Bronco's Football Season Ends on Glenbard North Prayer

When the eleventh seeded Glenbard North Panthers brought a big offensive line, talented backfield and a solid defense, it gave wide receiver/defensive back Sam Handler, and the six seeded Broncos, a glimpse of what it would be like if they were forced to play themselves.

“(Glenbard North) is a smash mouth team just like us,” Handler said following Barrington’s disappointing 27-21 loss in the opening round of the 8A IHSA football playoffs.  “They have tough runners in the Jackson brothers and you have to credit their offensive line.”

The Panthers (7-3) managed just 256 yards of total offense but the run game accounted for 246 of them.  In what turned out to be the most rushing yards allowed by the Broncos (7-3) all season, it was a pair of brothers doing all most all of the damage. Senior rusher Phillip Jackson ran for 122 yards (21 carries) while sophomore Justin Jackson may not have out gained his older brother (118 yards 21 carries) but was the rusher with all the touchdowns..

Justin Jackson got to the scoreboard first with a 50-yard run in the first quarter.  In a game where Barrington never had the lead but saw them able to answer each rushing touchdown, the Broncos would see Justin Jackson give the Panthers three separate leads with his runs of 50, 4 and 2-yards.

But Barrington’s offense had an answer in each of the first three quarters they found themselves trailing.  The Bronco’s senior rusher Chase Murdock tied the game at seven in the first quarter with his 4-yard run.  Murdock led all rushers with 129 yards (32 carries) and two touchdowns.

The Panthers regained a 14-7 lead in the second quarter after Justin Jackson’s 4 yard run but Barrington was able to tie the game before half with Handler’s 7-yard touchdown reception on a gutsy fourth and one near the end zone. 

Handler was senior quarterback Mark Bennett’s (10 of 18 for 117 yards and a touchdown) most targeted wide-out and ended the game leading all receivers with 7 receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown.

“We went into halftime on a pretty positive note,” Bennett said following the game.  “We had them; they were right there.”

Barrington’s defense, which faired better as the game wore on only allowing 104 yards of offense in the second half, would allow Justin Jackson to breach the end zone during the third quarter for a 2-yard run that gave North another lead.  The four play drive that gave the Panthers a 21-14 lead was set-up by a partially blocked punt that left Barrington defending a short field.

“When you only have 27 yards or so from which to work (defensively) it makes it tough,” Barrington’s head coach Joe Sanchez said.  “With what they were doing (offensively) we were in a tough spot.”

Barrington would respond with a long 17 play drive that was capped by Murdock’s 4-yard run.  Murdock’s second touchdown tied the game at 21 with just 1:12 left in the third frame. 

“We kept fighting; our kids were able to comeback and played hard all the way to the end,” Sanchez said.  “I was very proud of coaches and our kids today.”

Unfortunately, it was the last time Barrington’s offense would see momentum as the team ended the fourth quarter having only six plays that netted negative three yards. This was a sharp contrast to the previous three quarters.

“We had some penalties and things just kind of snowballed towards the end,” Bennett said of Barrington’s offensive struggles in the fourth.

With Barrington’s offense sputtering, North’s offense was able to put together one last scoring drive that was finished off in an improbable way.  Considering the amount of rushing, it was the only positive yard passing play from senior quarterback Brian Murphy (2 of 7 for 10 yards) that would find the scoreboard for the eventual game winning touchdown on a broken play.

“It was a prayer,” Panther head coach Ryan Wilkens said of the 10–yard jump ball thrown to the end-zone when his quarterback was flushed from the pocket.  “Who knows what jersey he was throwing the ball to?”

Well, Murphy’s prayer was answered by senior tight end Logan Henshall, an unlikely source.

“I usually tell Henshall, ‘You’re not running this play, you’ve dropped too many (balls),’” Wilkens said of Henshall’s first varsity reception that gave the Panthers a 27-21 lead.  “But this couldn’t have come to a harder worker.”

After the missed extra point Barrington was hoping the window of victory was left slightly open but the Broncos went three-and-out on the next series and was unable to stop North who essentially ran out the clock for a 27-21 victory.

“You have to tip your hats to Glenbard, they stepped up,” Murdock said following Barrington’s second consecutive home loss in the playoffs. 

The Broncos lost last year in opening round action to Glenbrook South 35-28 at Barrington Community Stadium.  As the ten year head coach of the Broncos, Barrington has now made their eighth playoff appearance and are (9-8) in the playoffs under Sanchez.  Prior to Sanchez taking the reigns, the Broncos had only made seven playoff appearances in 23 years.