Two times Lincoln-Way East had coverage. Two times Maine South’s Luke Hinkamp went up and made a play.
With less than two minutes remaining and their Class 8A state quarterfinal tied at 31, Hinkamp, a 6-foot-6 senior, reeled in a pair of 25-yard catches in traffic to drive Maine South down the field.
Hinkmap’s final catch came on fourth down and put his team into field-goal range, and Sean McNulty drilled the kick from 20 yards out with nine seconds left to lift Maine South to a 34-31 victory Saturday night in Frankfort.
Maine South (9-3) will host Palatine (12-0) in a state semifinal next weekend.
“Two times in a row, we had coverage on (Hinkamp) and he went up and caught the ball,” Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar said. “Sometimes it’s geometry or physics more than anything else.”
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It just didn’t add up for the Griffins (9-3).
Lincoln-Way East had already blocked two field-goal attempts thanks to Devin O’Rourke and Max Cesario, but asking for a third was too much.
McNulty, who has an offer as a preferred walk-on to kick at Western Michigan, split the uprights to seal a thrilling back-and-forth game that saw Lincoln-Way East erase a 14-0 deficit.
“I was very confident going into it,” McNulty said. “All my teammates trust me. They said they wouldn’t want any other kicker in the state.”
On one sideline elation. The other?
“Our hearts are broken right now,” Zvonar said. “I really feel for these seniors. They got put through some adversity, but they’ve done a tremendous jobs representing themselves and Lincoln-Way East. They can hold their heads very high.”
One such senior was running back Nigel Muhammad, who scored four short rushing TDs to keep the Griffins’ playoff hopes alive. His last score came form 1 yard out with 1:58 remaining.
“There was nothing we didn’t expect,” Muhammad said. “We studied very hard. We were over-prepared. But things happen. You fall short sometimes, and sometimes you get it done. We fell short this time.”
Wide receivers Ken Anderson and Jeremy Nelson provided the biggest plays of the night for the Griffins. Anderson had catches of 56 and 31 yards to set up two of Muhammad’s TDs. Nelson added two catches for 70 yards, both coming on different scoring drives.
But Maine South’s skill position players were up to the challenge.
Quarterback Nick Leongas finished 23 of 38 for 343 yards and two touchdowns, while running back Fotis Kokosioulis was electric with a 58-yard TD reception and rushing scores of 23 and 36 yards.
“(Leongas) is a great athlete,” Zvonar said. “Great thrower. He’s just as good at running back as he is throwing, and (Kokosioulis) is just unbelievable, too. They had an impressive set of skill kids.”
Logan Malloy is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.