Maine South made the most of its second chance against Barrington, defeating the Broncos 42-27 in Saturday’s Class 8A second-round playoff game in Park Ridge.
The Hawks (8-3) had lost to the Broncos 41-27 in Week 3 in Barrington, and Maine South coach Dave Inserra played up the theme of this game being a retake or retest.
It was just the second time in Inserra’s 16 seasons his team got an opportunity to avenge a regular-season loss in the postseason. In 2005, it defeated Warren in the second round of the playoffs after losing to the Blue Devils in Week 2.
“We rallied around the idea that we get a retake, which has only happened once,” Inserra said. “We talked about the significance of (that 2005 Warren victory).”
Maine South junior running back Fotis Kokosioulis had 27 carries for 166 yards and two touchdowns, and was especially effective as the 26th-seeded Hawks played a ball-control offense while protecting a second-half lead.
Hawks senior quarterback Nick Leongas completed 12-of-20 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown. Senior receiver Luke Hinkamp caught four passes for 92 yards, including a 48-yard score.
Inserra said he felt the physical play of the Maine South defense wore down Barrington as the game went along. He singled out senior linebacker Michael Pusateri, who seemed to be everywhere on the field.
“We beat them up a little bit. We beat up their offensive line, beat up their running back (senior Logan Moews). Hats off to our defense for playing physical,” Inserra said. “We made some mistakes and gave up some points, but I thought we played physical.”
Tenth-seeded Barrington (9-2) started junior quarterback Ray Niro, despite Niro injuring his right ankle in the first-round win over Leyden. But Niro struggled during the opening three series, including throwing a pick-six to Maine South senior safety Jack Hoffman, whose 35-yard return for a touchdown put the home team up 14-0.
As he had in the opening round, Barrington senior receiver Josh Babicz replaced Niro at quarterback. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Babicz proved a handful for the Hawks, as he scored on runs of 73 and 72 yards.
“We tried to go with (Niro), thought he was healthy enough and displayed enough in warmups. Obviously he wasn’t able to go the way we’ve seen him go,” Barrington coach Joe Sanchez said. “Josh (Babicz) went in and did a fantastic job and gave us a chance, performed the way I would have expected. The kid is a champion.”
After trailing 21-7, the Broncos, behind Babicz, got to within 28-20 in the second quarter, and may have gotten even closer but for a controversial call by the officials.
With 15 seconds left before the half, Babicz’s pass into the end zone appeared to be caught simultaneously by Barrington junior receiver Alec Andrea and Maine South senior cornerback Matthew Schneider.
But instead of awarding a touchdown to the passing team, as the rules call for in the event of a pass that is caught in the end zone at the same time by an offensive player and a defensive player, the officials determined Schneider had caught it first, and called it an interception.
“It was a bang-bang play, unfortunately the call didn’t go our way,” Sanchez said. “But it doesn’t come down to the officiating. We have to make that play clean and not give (the officials) a chance to think it’s bang-bang. If we would have gotten that, it would have changed the complexion of the game, but we weren’t able to today.”
Babicz completed 13-of-19 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown. He rushed for 221 yards on 16 carries, including the two long touchdowns. Moews finished with 18 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown. Junior receiver Jake Parsons (3 catches, 184 yards) had an 84-yard reception late in the game, though he was brought down on a touchdown-saving tackle by Maine South junior safety Cam Stacy.
Maine South advanced to play 18th-seeded Lincoln-Way East (9-2) in the quarterfinals next weekend in Frankfort.
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Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press