Glenbard South wins wild one over Larkin
After a wild and crazy second half, a missed extra point was the difference.
Antonio Carter scored on a 2-yard run with 3:04 left to put Glenbard South ahead, and John Madison effectively ended Larkin's last chance by sacking Royals' quarterback Jaxon Aubry with time running out.
When the dust settled, the Raiders came away with a hard-fought 35-34 Upstate Eight victory at Memorial Field.
Larkin had gone ahead 34-28 when Jahari Stubbs raced 85 yards with a blocked field goal. But a false-start penalty on the extra point try moved the Royals back and the kick sailed wide. That left the door open for quarterback Nick Plaso and the Raiders, who quickly moved 53 yards for the tying touchdown. Spencer Pyle's extra point gave the Raiders the lead for good.
Glenbard South appeared to seal it when Tony Ashley recovered a fumble on the Royals' next play. When Plaso scrambled for a first down to the Larkin 12 with 90 seconds left, the game appeared over.
But the Raiders fumbled on their next play and Aubrey drove the Royals all the way to the Glenbard South 16. But with the Royals trying to get into position for a possible winning field goal, Madison dropped Aubrey for a 13-yard loss.
On the next play, the snap sailed over Aubrey's head and the clock expired before Larkin could get off another play.
"That was the most fun football game I've ever played in my life," Plaso said. "That was the best game ever."
The Raiders (4-1, 4-1) trailed 21-17 at halftime but tweaked the offensive game plan for the second half. The defense also came up big, forcing 3 second-half turnovers.
"We just had to execute our plays," said Plaso. "We had the game plan coming out in the second half and we trusted ourselves and our teammates and we executed the game plan."
It was a frustrating loss for the Royals (3-2, 3-2).
"The sheer fight of our guys was incredible," said Larkin interim coach Jason Aubry. "They had the ball all the way down by the 10-yard line and we got the fumble and moved the ball all the way down to the 15. I'm very proud of the fight of our guys."
"This was an unbelievable game," said Glenbard coach Ryan Crissey. "It's a very perseverant group of young men. They were very positive on the sideline from start to finish. We made some great tweaks to the game plan and the play calling, and the adjustments were necessary. I just think their overall effort was incredible."
Carter finished with 167 yards on the ground and 2 scores. Plaso completed 21 of 32 for 227 yards and ran for 2 scores. Twelve of those completions went to Tavion Keith for 139 yards. Pyle kicked 2 field goals.
For Larkin, Aubrey completed 22 of 34 for 346 yards. His favorite target was Stubbs, who caught 9 for 160 yards, including a 49-yard scoring strike in the first half.
Aubrey also threw TD passes to Kione Williams-Sowers and Malik Walkine. Angel Garcia added 94 yards and a touchdown on the ground.