Maine South senior quarterback Nick Leongas said he was in elementary school when his father Paul started talking to him and his friends about winning a football state championship.
“Since fifth grade, maybe even younger, my father (who played at Maine South in the mid 1980s) would tell us, ‘Put state championship in your mind,’ ” said Nick Leongas, who lives in Park Ridge.
In those days, when Nick Leongas was 10, playing for state championships must have seemed like a birthright for children in Park Ridge. Maine South was in the state finals six times from 2003-2010, winning championships in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
But the Hawks had not reached the state championship game since 2010.
That changed Saturday as 26th-seeded Maine South defeated third-seeded Palatine 28-14 in a Class 8A state semifinal in Park Ridge. The Hawks punched their ticket to the title game Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Champaign.
“Maine South is back baby,” said Hawks junior running back Fotis Kokosioulis, who lives in Park Ridge. “It’s been way too long. It feels good to be back (at state).”
Maine South (10-3) will face top-seeded Loyola (13-0) in the state final in a rematch of Week 2 of the regular season. The Ramblers outlasted the Hawks 44-43 on Sept. 3 in Wilmette.
“Week 2, great game, both teams are really good. There is really good coaching,” Nick Leongas said. “I’m just excited for the state game. We’re ready for it.”
The wind and Palatine’s vaunted defense forced Maine South’s “Greek Backfield” of Nick Leongas and Kokosioulis to earn every yard in the semifinal.
Nick Leongas completed 8-of-16 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns, but he was most impressive when he carried the ball. He ran 23 times for 100 yards. Many of his scrambles were timely, none more so than a 9-yard gain on fourth-and-8 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“(Nick Leongas) played an unbelievably smart game, managed the clock well,” Maine South coach Dave Inserra said. “He doesn’t look like a high school kid out there.”
Kokosioulis finished with 19 carries for 88 yards, and his fourth-quarter touchdown runs of 5 and 6 yards helped put the game away for the Hawks.
Though much of the talk entering the game was about Palatine’s defense, which had given up just 23 points in three playoff games, it was Maine South’s defense that stole the show.
The Hawks held Palatine (12-1) to just 41 rushing yards, had a goal-line stand in the second quarter and picked off three passes. Senior cornerback Matthew Holbrook, senior linebacker Jack Pistorius and senior cornerback Matthew Schneider intercepted Palatine quarterback DJ Angelaccio (26-for-41, 236 yards, 2 touchdowns). The junior was filling in for the injured starter Zach Oles.
“We (the defense) played the best game we’ve played all year,” said Maine South senior linebacker Michael Pusateri, who lives in Park Ridge.
After Saturday’s victory, Pusateri talked about Maine South’s 27-21 loss to New Trier in Week 7, and how that defeat, which ended the Hawks’ 77-game Central Suburban South winning streak, has helped fuel the current postseason run.
“After that New Trier game, I told the team there was only one way to get rid of this cloud over our heads, and that was to win a state championship,” Pusateri said. “We’re on pace to do that right now.”
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The Hawks have reached the title game despite having just one player who has verbally committed to a major Division I program: senior offensive lineman Kevin Jarvis is a Michigan State recruit. The defense is a bit undersized and Inserra has said the receivers are not the fastest group he’s coached.
But the team has played with confidence and embraced its motto “True Grit.”
“We’ve all had that true grit,” Kokosioulis said. “We’re not afraid to get dirty. We never stop playing, never stop working hard.”
Maine South’s playoff run has featured stellar play all over the field, clutch performances and a bit of luck.
Late in the Hawks’ opening-round playoff game, West Aurora trailed by two points and had the ball second-and-goal at the 1. However, it fumbled at the goal line and Maine South recovered. The Hawks also faced Barrington and Palatine teams playing without their injured starting quarterbacks.
“Obviously being lucky is great, sometimes you need (luck)” Nick Leongas said. “But we’ve trusted the system and we knew we were going to succeed from Day 1.”
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press