Barrington defense pitches a shutout
Barrington’s defense recorded its second shutout of the season, limiting host Palatine to 168 yards in a 27-0 Mid-Suburban West football victory that pulled the Broncos into a tie for the division lead with Schaumburg with one game remaining.
The playoff-bound Broncos (7-1, 3-1) will face Hoffman Estates next week, while Schaumburg will take an identical record into its regular-season finale against Palatine (4-4, 1-3), which needs a win to qualify for a playoff berth for the seventh consecutive year.
“The defense has played very well all year,” Barrington coach Joe Sanchez said. “I’m proud of the kids, and I’m proud of the defensive coaches, Bill Helzer, Tim Norwood, Brady Smith and Mike Staudt.”
Linebacker Colin Castagna led the swarming Bronco defense. He recorded a sack and his seventh blocked punt of the season.
“We wanted this one,” Castagna said. “We wanted to be relentless on defense and give them no hope.
“What they did to us last year (a 38-6 defeat) was embarrass us on our own field,” he said. “We wanted to come back and show what we’re made of.”
“He’s a player,” Palatine coach Rick Splitt said of Castagna. “Any time we got a little momentum, they shut us down.”
The Broncos scored in each quarter. Nate King scored on runs of 1 and 2 yards in the first half. His first touchdown capped a 12-play, 68-yard drive with 2:28 left in the first quarter, and his second scoring run made it 14-0 with 7:38 left.
The drive began on the Palatine 40 after punter Kevin Fink went down on one knee to field a low snap.
An untimely encroachment penalty on Palatine on fourth and 3 on its own 6 yard line allowed Barrington to forego a chip shot field goal and keep the drive alive. Two plays later, King scored.
Another Pirate miscue came when Castagna partially blocked Fink’s punt in the third quarter, giving the Broncos possession on Palatine’s 29. Dylan Abel capped a 6-play drive with a 1-yard scoring run to make it 21-0 with 7:37 remaining.
Barrington’s last score came courtesy of Daniel Kubiuk’s passing. He completed passes of 11 yards to Matt Moran, 19 to Scotty Miller and 40 to Moran again, the latter a resulting in a touchdown after the officials conferred to sort out confusion surrounding Moran’s fumble that went through the end zone. The officials ruled Moran had crossed the goal line prior to fumbling.