Kendall Stephens netted 22 points as the Saints handed Schaumburg it’s second consecutive loss.

It was back and forth early with neither team able to get much of a rhythm in a tight defensive battle that resulted in Schaumburg leading 8-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Stephens was active early, scoring four of five of the teams baskets to start the game before Jordan Wilson’s three-pointer gave the Saints another contributor.

Even Stephens’ misses seemed to fall favorably, more often than not finding the hands of juniors AJ Washington (nine points, six rebounds, two steals) and David Mason, who cleaned the glass all game, scoring a majority of their points off put backs.

But Schaumburg put together a full team effort behind seniors Kyle Bolger (14 points) and Bobby Green (11 points), who willed their team to a 22-19 deficit at halftime.

“We have great senior leadership on this team and I expect that to improve as the season goes on,” Schaumburg coach Matt Walsh said. “We’re going to get better at that and a lot of other things here as the season progresses.”

The Saxons kept it close after the break, playing smart defense in holding Stephens to five points in the third quarter. Careful shot selection and a few favorable calls allowed Schaumburg to break through the Saints zone defense, pulling within one heading into the fourth.

“The game was very physical,” Stephens said. “Schaumburg’s a great team, you have to give them credit they made it hard for us to get into our offense.”

Stephens’ thunderous dunk set the tone for the fourth quarter as the Saints cut down on the fouls and tightened up the defense to pull away.

Adduci, sophomore guard Jake Asquini (seven points) and Washington, sparked the Saints at the right time, combining for a slew of tipped passes, blocks and rebounds that threatened to blow the game wide open.

But Bolger just wouldn’t go away, slicing to the basket and drawing fouls or setting up senior forward Jimmy Lundquist, whose six points were well-timed to keep the game close late.

In the end, though, it was Adduci who stole the show, hitting a runner in the paint to earn the win.

“We were looking for Kendall and he wasn’t there so I just went to the hoop,” Aducci said. “It felt great coming out of my hand and it was the best feeling ever once it went through.”

Next up for St. Charles East is a showdown against St. Joseph on Friday.

“I feel great moving forward, St. Joe’s is going to be a big test for us,” Stephens said. “We’re just going to take advantage of the day off, rest and get back to it.”

The victory gives coach Tom Poulin his 100th win.”This is definitely a game you learn from,” Poulin said of a sloppy second half. “We will take this and learn from it and come back after the holiday ready to go.”

North Lawndale got into foul trouble early, and the North Stars capitalized, shooting 9-for-12 from the free-throw stripe in the first quarter.
Early calls also kept sophomore guard Damontre Enos on the bench for much of the early going and gave St. Charles North an opportunity to push the ball inside.

The North Stars connected on 4 of 6 three-pointers in the first half en route to a 36-18 halftime lead.

St. Charles North senior forward Quinten Payne scored 16 points as North Lawndale shadowed him on defense.

“We knew who he was, we just wanted to make sure to keep the ball out of his hands and contest everything he put up,” North Lawndale head coach Lewis Thorpe said.

Junior point guard Alec Goetz kept the North Stars going with 16 of his 18 points in the first half, helping his team keep its uptempo pace despite North Lawndale’s press.

The Phoenix came out for the second half fired up, closing the gap to five points with under a minute remaining in the game on the back of a Mack, who scored 17 of his 19 points after the break.

Thorpe made sure his team was ready to go after a lackluster first half.

“We just needed to play with more pride,” Thorpe said. “We’re a team from the city so we should be used to a physical game like this.”

Visiting Glenbard North overcame unusual circumstances and a furious fourth quarter rally by Fremd to get a 31-24 win in the first round of the Class 8A state playoffs.

It was a battle on the ground as each offense boasted a stellar running game and made sure to prove it.

The Panthers junior running back Justin Jackson drove his team to the win, scoring three times while racking up 221 yards rushing. Junior running back Jeff McGlade added 93 yards and one touchdown for the Vikings.

Fremd, who found itself down 17-3 at halftime, came out of the break focused.

The Vikings put together an 11 play drive that lasted nearly half of the third quarter, culminating in a two yard touchdown run by McGlade to cut the lead to 17-10.

Jackson made his presence felt on the next two possessions, scoring on plays of nine and 61 yards.

“On offense we stepped up and had a good game,” Jackson said. “It’s been like this since I was in second grade: run, run, run and when I got to Glenbard it was no different. I love it.”

Fremd, who shifted its offensive strategy from the spread to the single-wing after losing starting quarterback senior Sam Beutler to a separated shoulder in week seven, decided to return to throwing the ball late in the game.

“We knew we needed to do something, they were doing a good job shutting us down up front,” said Fremd head coach Lou Sponsel. “We felt we had to put our athletes out there and get the ball in their hands.

One of those athletes was junior wide receiver Matt Konopka, whose big catches from junior quarterback Trever Cutler late in the fourth quarter kept the Vikings in striking distance to the end.

Alas, it was Jackson to the rescue all the way to the finish. Facing a third and long with a chance to run out the clock he broke several tackles to pick up the final first down.

“The last play where Justin broke through there was great, he’s just a great player,” said Glenbard North head coach Ryan Wilkens

Although Glenbard North had home advantage with their 8-1 record, the game was moved to Fremd because of an incident in which fans rushed the field in a 2007 matchup of the two schools.

Although it could have been a distraction,  Wilkens dismissed it as a problem.

“We don’t buy into all the hoopla, I told my kids to just worry about what we need to do and that’s what high school football is all about.”

Glenbard North will now shift its sights to Stevenson as it moves into the second round of playoff contention.

“We’re just ready to move on, get healthy and watch some film and get ready for next week against Stevenson.”

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.