Celebration belongs to Glenbard North
Glenbard North had no interest in hosting another Palatine postseason football celebration Saturday night.
A year ago the Pirates started a Class 8A quarterfinal run when they upset the higher-seeded Panthers in a first-round game at Weber Field in Carol Stream.
This time the 11th-seeded Panthers (8-3) were celebrating an upset and a trip to the quarterfinals as Phil and Justin Jackson combined to rush for 345 yards and all 5 touchdowns in a 35-21 second-round victory over No. 3 Palatine (9-2).
“Coming into this game we knew we had to get a ‘W,’” said senior Phil Jackson after he rushed for 227 yards and 4 touchdowns on 27 carries. “We couldn’t let them take away our season again.
“Tonight we played to our potential and we got it done.”
Sophomore Justin Jackson rushed for 118 yards on 13 carries and his 78-yard touchdown capped a 21-point outburst that put the Panthers up 28-14. Phil Jackson’s 2-yard touchdown run finished a 53-yard drive of 13 running plays that ate up 6:47 and set the final score with 5:52 to play.
That put Glenbard North in the quarterfinals for the sixth time and it will host No. 7 Stevenson (9-2), which pulled a 24-22 stunner of three-time defending 8A champion and No. 2 Maine South (10-1).
“Even though we didn’t get a chance to play last year it hurt us,” junior linebacker and return man Mario Rodriguez said of being on the sideline as a sophomore call-up. “Justin and I were going to do something about it this year.”
Glenbard North linemen D’Angelo Hodges, Cody Gondek, Mitchell Silver, Cody Burandt and Dan McHale, tight ends Logan Henshall and Marquis Hollins and fullback Shawn Lenahan helped pave the way for 380 of its 425 yards on the ground.
Palatine had won nine straight games with a defense that had allowed only 235 yards a game but was missing safety Jesse Bobbit (concussion) and linebacker Kurt Becker (broken ankle) and didn’t have safety-receiver Cam Kuksa in the second half because of a concussion.
“They had the ball for a long time and those two running backs, God bless them, they’re two great kids,” said Palatine quarterback Ethan Olles, who was 17-for-30 for 259 yards.
“You can’t give up 35 points and win, not against that type of defense,” said Palatine coach Tyler Donnelly, whose team had allowed that many total points in its last five games. “When you don’t tackle well that’s what happens, but give them credit. They have good running backs, they play hard and they have a good line.”
Palatine took a 14-7 lead when Kuksa (8 catches, 121 yards) took a direct snap from 5 yards and did a pinwheel through the air after he was upended by a defender but landed on his feet in the end zone. But Phil Jackson broke three tackles near the line of scrimmage on a tying 63-yard touchdown 2:55 before halftime.
After Hunter Week’s stop forced a three-and-out, Jackson scored from 15 yards 44 seconds before the break to make it 21-14.
“Penalties were killing us (9 for 105 yards) but once we got the hang of it we started playing physical and a lot smarter,” Rodriguez said. “After we shut them down four times in a row I talked to Phil and said, ‘You’ve got to play your butt off.’”
Palatine got within 28-21 on John Serio’s second touchdown run, a 2-yarder, with 49 seconds left in the third. But Glenbard North responded with the Jackson drive to regain a 14-point lead.
Fittingly, Phil Jackson’s stop for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-goal at the 3 sealed it with 1:39 left.
“What we had to convince the kids of is they do have some potential,” Glenbard North coach Ryan Wilkens said of a three-game losing streak after a 5-0 start. “We told the kids the last three games shows the character they have as far as not giving in and losing faith and showing what they potentially can do.”