With mud covering his uniform, Michael Tringali played to the bitter end Friday night for South Elgin. He was beat up, bruised and battered, limping by the final whistle.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior linebacker/running back had nothing left to give.
Afterward, Tringali stood on the track, wiping away tears as he received thanks from his teammates — something that Storm coach Dragan Teonic noted speaks volumes.
“You have to like seeing that as a coach, that there is that fight until the end,” Teonic said. “He sets the tone in the building. The kids look up to him. He’s truly a stud.”
Fourth-seeded South Elgin just truly ran into a buzz saw against 13th-seeded Maine South in the second round of the Class 8A playoffs, resulting in a 42-0 setback.
While the Storm (10-1) had a 10-game winning streak snapped by the Hawks (9-2), Tringali walked off the field for the final time as a high school player with his head held high.
“I’m just happy I got to have four years with my guys,” he said. “We played our hearts out. I was out there trying my best. We worked so hard in the weight room, in practice.
“We tried so hard. We gave everything we had.”
For Tringali, the message he gave to the underclassmen was the same he heard from last year’s graduating seniors after a 30-7 loss to Marist in the second round.
“I remember my seniors coming up to me telling me it’s my team now,” Tringali said. “We took over. We got this program right. I’m just so thankful I got to do it with this group.”
Maine South jumped on South Elgin early and often in Friday’s first half. Ryan Leyden threw four touchdown passes to build a 28-0 lead at halftime.
“We kind of got bull-rushed in the first quarter,” Teonic said. “We tried to get out of it, but to their credit, we couldn’t do it. You have to give them credit. They did a great job.”
Leyden hit Evan Agosto for TD passes of 9 and 27 yards. He added a 39-yard TD pass to Michael Dellumo and an 18-yard TD to Maurice Densmore right before the half.
Leyden finished completing 13 of 22 passes for 217 yards as the Hawks totaled 453 yards.
“Those kids are the toughest kids I’ve ever met,” Tringali said. “I respect Maine South.”
Offensively, South Elgin produced 139 yards and 10 first downs but couldn’t string together sustained drives. Jordan Green ran for 38 yards and Ari Kravis added 30.
“We could have done a lot of things better, but at the end of the day, you don’t want to say anything besides they did a great job because they did,” Teonic said. “You don’t want to take anything away from those kids.
“Watching the film, I thought they were solid. I thought we were solid. I did not see 42-0. I did not see that.”
With the loss, South Elgin is still left looking to get past the second round of the playoffs.
“It’s hard,” Teonic said. “Class 8A is tough. To break into the third round, you have to have things go right. There’s not a lot of places to hide.
“We did everything we could to put ourselves in the best position. It just didn’t work out.”
Still, even in defeat, Teonic was glad he had players like Tringali helping to push the program in the proper direction.
“He’s unbelievable,” Teonic said. “He’s so good. I can’t understand why this guy doesn’t have a (college) offer. To me, he’s big, he’s fast, he’s tough. He’s a true football player.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.