Mooseheart outlasted visiting North Shore Country Day in a near repeat of last year’s matchup between the two, squeaking by 28-27 Friday night.

North Shore’s four turnovers were the difference in the game, as they set up the Mooseheart offense on several occasions.

The Red Ramblers’ Sahr Mahoney was seemingly everywhere at once. Mahoney intercepted two passes on defense, racked up six catches for 107 yards and a touchdown and added another score on the ground.

“It’s crazy to be out there all the time, sometimes I wonder how I keep going,” said Mahoney, whose interception with 1.8 seconds left sealed the game. “I’ve been training for this game all season though and am excited to get the win.”

After a back-and-forth battle through the first half, which saw each team score twice unanswered to make the score 14-13 Mooseheart things heated up in the fourth as the teams traded leads four times in the final 12 minutes.

North Shore kept the ball on the ground behind a solid rushing attack. Senior running back Kendrick Hales (16 attempts, 240 yards, two touchdowns) led the way. His 65-yard scamper down the sideline gave the Raiders a six-point lead with under six minutes to go.

North Shore had a chance to take control of the game following a touchdown from Mooseheart senior quarterback Jonathan Hart to Mahoney that put the Raiders down one with 3:20 to go in the game.

Staying true to form, the Raiders, who threw the ball only twice in the second half, continued to pound away on the ground with little success.

“They were giving us the run and our running game was working,” said North Shore coach Fred Miller. “We just have to manage the clock and hold on to the football and we won’t end up in a situation like that we don’t want to be in.”

With each team losing to Ottawa Marquette, Mooseheart was able to secure second place in the Northeastern Athletic Conference heading into Saturday’s playoff selection with an 8-1 record.

“This win means a lot, momentum is the key,” said Mooseheart coach Gary Urwiler. “Right now, mentally, we feel pretty darn good. We’ll get ready and see who we have to play.

 The No. 9 Broncos didn’t waste any time, sacking senior quarterback Demetrius Carr on the first play of the game.

After a three-and-out, junior quarterback Alex Wills connected with senior wide receiver Joseph Borsellino on a three-yard touchdown pass to give Montini (5-1, 4-0) the lead for good.

Wills found the end zone again in the first quarter with a short pass to senior Michael Dusek who took it 38 yards for the score to put the Broncos up 14-0.

“We were looking to the weak side of the field all game and it was there,” Wills said. “We executed that the way we wanted and were able to come out on top.”

The play of the game came in the second quarter when Montini junior linebacker Michael Maduko picked up a fumble and outraced everyone 47 yards to the end zone.

“The ball bounced out right at my feet. I just picked it up and took off,” Maduko said.

Immaculate Conception (4-2, 2-2) couldn’t get the ball moving, and punted on its first three possessions before Montini senior defensive back Ryan Starbeck picked off a Carr pass just before half.

The Knights didn’t threaten in the first half and were thwarted on fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line late in the third quarter.

“They smacked us in our face,” Carr said. “We came out ready to play but we didn’t really bring it. We’re just going to try to put this game behind us and move on.”

For Montini the game was a statement after a close call last week at Marmion raised some questions about the defending state champions.

Wills finished with 152 yards passing and four touchdowns while senior kicker Andrew Harte extended his streak of made extra points to 81 with seven on the day. Senior running back Dimitri Taylor added 88 yards and a touchdown on the ground for the Broncos.

Immaculate Conception heads to Aurora to take on Aurora Christian next week while the Broncos travel to Woodstock for a big matchup against Marian Central.

“This was our best game of the season,” Montini head coach Chris Andriano said. “We executed at an extremely high level. I think we’re getting that edge, we know what time of the year it is.”

The Fremd Vikings came out strong with hope of ruining Palatine’s homecoming but fell short as a fourth quarter rally fizzled out and the Palatine earned a 24-17 victory.

Fremd opened up a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter thanks to a 25-yard field goal from junior Andrew Stark and a 5-yard touchdown run from junior quarterback Sam Beutler.

After falling behind, the Pirates defense locked up the Vikings, shutting down the run game and intercepting Beutler once before and after halftime to set up their high-scoring offense.

“That defense flies,” said Beutler. “They’re a great team. If that’s the best team in the state our squad’s right there with them.”

Ethan Olles (13-24, 163 yards, 3 TDs) took advantage of the Fremd turnovers by tossing touchdowns to senior Alex Nawrot (5 catches, 34 yards) and junior Eric Theis (3 catches, 61 yards) to give his team a 17-10 halftime lead.

“Coming in we wanted to pass more than we ran,” said Olles. “I’ve been throwing to [Nawrot] since freshman year and Theis has become a solid starter for us which good.”

A Olles pass to junior running back Chaka Kelly went for 18 yards and a touchdown to give Palatine a two score lead with under five minutes to go in the third quarter. Kelly finished the game with 102 yard on 14 attempts on the ground.

“I knew it was going to be an emotional game,” said head coach Tyler Donnelly. “Coming in we knew they didn’t give up a lot of points so when we pushed it to two scores I felt like we would have a chance to extend that in the fourth.”

Fremd wasn’t ready to give up though, scoring on a 2-yard run from junior Jeff McGlade (55 yards, 16 attempts).

After an onside kick was recovered by the Pirates, a three and out gave the Vikings a first and ten from their own 42 with under two minutes left.

A 27-yard pass from Beutler to junior Matt Konopka gave Fremd hope. Junior defensive back Bradley Bauer extinguished that flame when he intercepted the ball with under a minute left and took it back 60 yards to the Viking 20.

Marian Central cruised to a 37-7 win over conference foe Immaculate Conception on their Homecoming night thanks to a monster night by senior quarterback Chris Streveler who accounted for all but one of the Hurricanes’ five touchdowns.

The Hurricanes laid it on early, scoring from twelve yards out on a Streveler pass to junior wide receiver Brett Olson (5 catches, 57 yards) who finished the game with two touchdown catches.

Immaculate Conception answered with a steady drive coordinated by senior quarterback Demetrius Carr (6-12, 52 yards, 3 interceptions). The drive was capped by a four yard touchdown run by senior running back Danny D’Angelo after a roughing the kicker call on fourth down prolonged the possession.

The Knights wouldn’t see the end zone again as the Marian Central defense tightened and the offense, led by Streveler and junior running back Ephraim Lee (155 yards, 1 touchdown) put the lead out of reach for Immaculate Conception.

“The offensive line played great today, they did all the work,” said Streveler. “Ephraim was running with a lot of swagger and confidence which was a good improvement at the running back position.”

A small change in equipment was seemingly all it took to get Lee on track.

“We got him some longer spikes finally,” said Marian Central head coach Ed Brucker.

“He’s been slipping all over the field but we got him some longer ones and he looked good in them tonight.”

The Hurricane defense tightened up against Immaculate Conception whose offense had been one of the most potent in the area heading into the night’s game. Marian Central allowed the Knights offense little room for error en route to three interceptions by three different players, ultimately the difference in the contest.

Immaculate Conception hosts Montini next week.

Brucker was pleased with what he saw from the whole group heading into next weeks game against St. Francis.

“It was a good effort all over,” said Brucker. “The defense played physical and the offense didn’t get greedy and took what they gave us.”