Broncos Lose Overtime Thriller

In a game of dueling running backs in which the two teams rush for over 350 yards and score three touchdowns combined, it was a gutsy one yard quarterback sneak on fourth down and goal that gave the Wildcats an emotional 23-20 season opening, overtime victory.   

“Just find a gap and dive through it,” Libertyville quarterback Hutch Herchenbach said of his job on the play to decide the emotional game.

“Our offensive line had a great push and won us that game,” he went on to say of the overtime win.

“That was a great second effort,” Barrington’s coach Joe Sanchez said of the score.  “I thought initially (Herchenbach) was stopped and (the referees) were going to blow the whistle, but unfortunately they didn’t do it fast enough.”

The Broncos forced overtime with just 10-seconds left in the fourth quarter after senior quarterback Mark Bennett threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to a sliding Dylan Zyzda in the back corner of the end zone that left Barrington losing 17-16.  Bennett, who started the game only completing two of his first 11 passes, finished strong and ended 15 of 28 for 159 yards.  Bennett would complete seven of eight passes on Barrington’s game-tying drive that started under two minutes and on the 20-yard line.

“Mark is so resilient and I am really happy with his performance,” Sanchez said.  “He did a hell of a job leading us in that two-minute drive at the end of the ball game.”

Barrington’s sophomore kicker Daniel Kubiuk would not only tie the game at 17’s to send the two teams to overtime with his extra point attempt, but the Bronco kicker gave Barrington the lead twice.  Kubiuk opened the game by hitting a field goal to give Barrington a 3-0 lead early, and would hit another field goal from the three-yard line to give the Bronco’s a lead to open overtime.  The sophomore Kubiuk, in his first ever varsity game was, 4 of 4 on field goals and extra points.

“The kid showed me something,” Sanchez said of Kubiuk’s performance to tie the game and then hit the field goal in overtime.  “The kid has moxie.”

Kubiuk almost didn’t get a chance to use his leg on the initial drive that opened the game because even though Barrington was able to move the ball down field, they found that they had to battle two opponents, the Wildcats and costly penalties. 

After a heavy dose of Chase Murdock on the opening series, it was penalties that stalled the productive drive and had Barrington at one time looking at a 2nd down and 30 yards situation.  Barrington would get bailed out by a pass interference call against Libertyville that would set-up the field goal after Barrington was unable to find the end zone.  The Broncos would finish with 12 penalties for 104 yards with a key penalty negating a Libertyville field goal try that later resulted in Salata’s first touchdown.

“We certainly gave (Libertyville) a lot more opportunities,” Sanchez said.  “They took advantage of it on both sides of the ball.”

“We had some key penalties and that set us back,” Sanchez went on to say.  “We had them stopped and then we gave them four or five extra chances and they finally scored.”

With the Bronco’s leading 3-0, Libertyville answered with a field goal that would leave the teams heading into halftime tied at 3.

But the game plan in the first half that saw a heavy dose of Murdock continued and finally saw him break through.  took a 10-3 lead at the 6:54 mark in the third quarter with an 85 yard Murdock touchdown run along the sidelines, and that was after breaking three or four tackles.  Murdock rushed for 210 yards on 26 carries; and most of that happened with a key fixture on the offensive line and team leader, Dan Voltz, out with an injury since the third quarter.

“Chase did a great job for us,” Sanchez said of his running back/linebacker that played with a bad thumb.  “He played inspired on both sides of the ball, and that is what you come to expect from him.”

However, Libertyville would put up 14 straight points on Barrington.  The first touchdown for Libertyville was Salata’s two yard touchdown which was set-up by Brian Swift’s 54-yard run.  Swift would end the game with 11 carries for 127 yards.  

Salata would score his second touchdown with minutes remaining in the game (1:46 mark in the fourth) with a 4-yard run that would give the Wildcats a 17-10 late lead.  

Salata’s second touchdown came after a very productive Bronco drive that ended with a Barrington turnover.  Barrington’s tight end, Lee Conforti, fumbled as he tried to break tackles after a Bennett pass inside the Wildcat 20.  Both teams had one turnover in the contest.

Despite the 23-20 overtime loss, Sanchez believes that the team is heading in the right direction.

“I’m really proud of our guys, because when we were down 17-10 it would have been easy for us to cave in,” Sanchez said of the team’s ability to fight back with very little time remaining.  “But we came back to force an overtime game and we had a chance to win it.”

“If we are going to get this effort every night and we are going to clean-up our side of the mistakes that came with tonight, then we have a chance to be a real good football team,” Sanchez went on to say.

Barrington’s next game will be their home opener and is against Elk Grove on Sept. 2 at 7:30 p.m.  This conference crossover match-up is the highlight of the night that helps celebrate and honor the different branches of our brave military that have served our nation.