Though his fellow Maine South football players were heading to the team bus, senior Cam Stacy lingered on the field after Saturday night’s 24-14 loss to Lincoln-Way East in the Class 8A semifinals in Frankfort.
Stacy was in tears as he stood near midfield. He knew he would never wear a Maine South uniform again and hoped he could learn from the fifth-seeded Hawks’ second loss this season to the top-seeded Griffins.
“I’m just letting it burn right now, so I can use it as motivation later in life,” said Stacy, a wide receiver/safety who also was a key contributor on the Hawks’ Class 8A state championship team last season.
Stacy added: “When they say football is family, they don’t understand what Maine South is. I spend more time with Maine South football than I do with my own family. I love these guys. They are my brothers for life. The coaches are like father figures to me.”
Maine South players and coaches lamented a night of missed opportunities. But they also reflected with pride on a season in which the fairly inexperienced Hawks (11-2) reached the state semifinals. It was part of a two-year stretch in which the Hawks went 22-5 and won eight straight playoffs games before Saturday night.
“We had a target on our back all year as the defending state champs. The kids handled that pressure extremely well and gave us everything they had,” Maine South coach Dave Inserra said. “To go 22-5 (in two seasons), win a state championship and get to a semifinal, you can’t be upset with that. That’s awesome. You’re not going to win them all, as much as you want to.”
On Saturday, the Hawks were forced to overcome early adversity. With just over one minute gone in the game, a 44-yard field-goal attempt by Maine South junior Aiden Carolan was blocked and returned by the Griffins’ Kwaku Appiah for a 60-yard touchdown.
Maine South bounced back and had good field position for much of the first half, but the Hawks only found the end zone once and trailed 14-6 at the break.
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Last season on the same field, the Hawks used a late second-quarter drive to gain momentum in a 34-31 win over Lincoln-Way East in the Class 8A quarterfinals.
History looked like it might repeat itself Saturday as Maine South mounted a big drive right before the break. But after catching a 16-yard pass from senior quarterback John O’Sullivan, Hawks junior receiver Bobby Inserra was tackled at the 3-yard line as time expired.
“We came up a couple yards short (on that play). That seemed like what it was tonight: Everything was just a little bit off,” said Dave Inserra, Bobby Inserra’s father.
However, the play of Hawks sophomore defensive lineman Peter Skoronski was one of many reasons for optimism about the future. He recovered a fumble on Lincoln-Way East’s first play from scrimmage.
The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Skoronski was a starting offensive lineman all season and began playing both ways late in the campaign.
Maine South’s top four defensive linemen are scheduled to return next season, as is one starting linebacker and three of the four defensive backs who started most of the season.
“We have a lot of the defense returning,” said Skoronski, a Park Ridge resident. “We’re going to push through. We’re going to make it (next year). We have a lot of great players and I think we have the best coaching staff in the state.”
The Hawks will have more players to replace on the offensive side of the ball, where they will lose Fotis Kokosioulis, the program’s all-time leading rusher, O’Sullivan, Stacy and receiver Rory Hayes to graduation.
But Stacy, a Park Ridge resident who caught six passes for 80 yards on Saturday, said he expects to return as an alumnus next season and see the Hawks right back among the top teams in the state.
“Definitely,” he said. “We were a young defense and guys stepped up. Everyone knew what they were doing. Everyone should be alright, and the coaches will get on them (and coach them) like they always do.”
Notes
*In the first game between the teams this season, which Lincoln-Way East won a 28-26 on Sept. 1 in Park Ridge, the Griffins held Kokosioulis to just 15 yards rushing on 15 carries.
The Hawks did a better job of getting Kokosioulis into space in the rematch, but he was still below his usual production, finishing with 73 yards on 15 carries. Kokosioulis, a Northern Illinois recruit, also had seven catches for 31 yards in the final game of his illustrious high-school career.
*O’Sullivan completed 18-of-40 passes for 161 yards, with a touchdown and an interception, though his receivers had some uncharacteristic drops. Senior receiver Anthony Bartell caught a 9-yard touchdown in the first half.
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press