Palatine uses strong defensive effort to stifle Barrington
It was defense, defense, and more defense for Palatine on Friday night against visiting Barrington.
And on offense, it was a spectacular performance by Dominik Ball.
Jaylen Williams, Izaiah Zaplan, and Josh Reiswig all came up with huge plays early on the defensive end to give Palatine the upper hand in a 41-14 Pirates victory.
Offensively, Ball scored 3 touchdowns and was basically unstoppable on a night where the students of both teams' fanbases wore pink to promote the fight against breast cancer as October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
"At Palatine we try to teach people about all types of cancer, including breast cancer." said Palatine senior student Andrew Philbin. "Everyone in the school was wearing pink, the walls were decorated in pink, it was just a good vibe. We know that some of our teachers have had breast cancer and we want to make sure that they know they're supported here."
On the field, defensive lineman Williams blocked a Barrington punt midway through the first quarter, and teammate Zaplan picked up the bouncing ball and ran it back to the Broncos 10.
It lead to a Ball 10-yard touchdown run.
"I caught the ball and I hesitated," said Zaplan. "That's a D-linemans dream, to get the ball and score a touchdown. Unfortunately I wasn't able to score but still it was a heck of a play."
In the second quarter, senior Josh Reiswig intercepted a Broncos pass and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-0 Pirates.
"I knew they were doing the quick game," Reiswig said of the Barrington offense, "and they were deep in their own end zone so I knew they had to get it out of there. I backed up a little, saw the receiver go deep, and that was that."
The Broncos struck back, though, with a long drive before halftime to make it 14-7.
Barrington quarterback Payton Soske capped off the successful drive with a 3-yard run right up the middle.
Palatine scored twice more in the third quarter to put the game on ice.
First Ball ran one in from 8 yards away as the junior caught a short pass from quarterback Tommy Elter and outran the Barrington defense to make it 35-7.
Scores through the air in the fourth quarter by Broncos' senior Manny Hall (15-yard reception) and Palatine's Ryan Donnelly (23-yard catch) accounted for the final score.
Ball finished the day with 98 yards rushing.
"This is a big game every year," Reiswig said. "They always give us struggles, so to beat them and (possibly) knock them out of the playoffs feels good for the whole team.
Our coaches talked about it all week (defeating Barrington), and we succeeded," Zaplan said.