Palatine’s Defense, Offensive Weapons, Too Much for Broncos

All season long the Pirates' defense has done well creating turnovers (14 total-11 interceptions) and then turning those into points. In their heavily touted matchup against their MSL-West rival Barrington, things were no different.

“The defense played great and got (the offense) the ball, and that gave us more shots (to score),” Palatine’s junior quarterback Ethan Olles said of the team’s four takeaways (2 fumbles) in Palatine’s 35-14 victory over the Broncos.

With the Pirates leading 14-7 to start the second half, the defense forced Barrington’s senior running back Chase Murdock to fumble on the Bronco’s first play.  Three Pirate plays later they extended their lead with junior Cam Kuksa’s 21-yard touchdown run that gave them a 21-7 lead.  Kuksa had six carries for 66 yards and two touchdowns.

“We have a big run game,” running back John Serio said of the different running attack weapons that were thrown at the Broncos that included Olles, Cam Kuksa, Alex Nawrot, and Sam Miller.

Palatine (5-1, 2-0) would intercept Barrington’s senior quarterback Mark Bennett (12 of 24 for 76 yards and two interceptions) a few plays later which Olles would quickly turn into a 48-yard bomb to junior wide receiver Lucas Rago for a 28-7 advantage.  Rago would end the game catching three passes for 75 yards while Olles finished completing 5 of his 9 passes for 125 yards and ran the ball five times for 49 yards.

“The game just got away from us in the second half,” Barrington’s coach Joe Sanchez said.  “We gave up those two turnovers and they got 14 points off of it.”

“I thought Olles play was very good,” Palatine’s head coach Tyler Donnelly said.  “He had some nice deep balls, which is something he does well.”

After taking the three touchdown lead, Palatine would turn to their offensive line and just pound the ball for the rest of the half.  The Pirates would rack up 231 yards on the ground against a normally stingy Barrington defense that allows just 190 yards per game and gave up an average of 14 points per contest.

“The offensive line played outstanding again,” Donnelly said following their fifth straight win over the Broncos.  “We have a running back by committee with each runner giving us something different, even Olles ran the ball well.”

It was the run game that kicked of the scoring for both teams as Palatine’s junior running back John Serio capped an 82-yard, 11-play drive with a one yard run in the second quarter to give the Pirates a 7-0 lead. 

Barrington (4-2, 1-1) had opened the game with a 15 play drive that took over seven minutes, but the stalled drive ended with sophomore kicker Daniel Kubiuk’s field goal being blocked.  The Pirate return was negated by an inadvertent whistle.

After the Serio touchdown, Barrington would use an 11 play drive to tie the game at 7 on Murdock’s six yard run.  Murdock would end the game with 214 yards on 39 carries and two touchdowns, his other run being a 46-yarder late in the third quarter that would cut the Pirate lead to 28-14.

“Barrington is huge, and good,” Donnelly said.  “They have a heck of a runner (in Murdock) and we knew he would get his runs, we just tried to limit them; we were fortunate to have the lead when he did have his runs.” 

Knotted at seven, the Palatine offense would immediately get back to work orchestrating a 10 play drive that resulted in their own touchdown.  This time Serio would lead the team downfield with both his feet and his arm, completing a five yard pass that would give the Pirates a 14-7 halftime lead.  Serio would end the game leading all Pirate rushers with 82 yards on 20 carries, and completing one pass for a touchdown.

“When I dipped down (behind the offensive line), I saw the corner bite,” Serio said of his first throwing touchdown all year.  “I just threw it and (senior Taylor Hall) was wide open.”

“(Palatine) came out and did a good job executing,” Sanchez said.  “They used a lot of different people tonight.”

“When we did get a stop, we just couldn’t do anything with it,” Sanchez went on to say.

Barrington hits the gridiron next Thursday, Oct. 6 at 6:30 p.m. and will welcome Conant (5-1, 1-1) in another shortened week of preparation for the Broncos. 

"We'll bounce back and be ready to go against Conant," Sanchez said.