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.”

Senior quarterback Kameron Sallee threw for 119 yards and one touchdown as Huntley outlasted visiting Crystal Lake South 20-19 in Fox Valley Valley action Friday night.

After a quiet first half that found the Red Raiders down 10-6, the offense picked up through the air with Sallee finding a nice connection with senior wide receiver Bryce Beschorner, who finished the game with five catches for 94 yards and a touchdown.

Huntley went ahead on a 54-yard touchdown connection from Sallee to Beschorner in the fourth quarter.

“We knew they weren’t expecting us to throw out of the full formation,” said Sallee. “We had it planned the entire week and were ready for it when we had the chance.”

Crystal Lake South (1-3, 0-2) was in control for most of the game, finding most of its offense on the ground with junior quarterback Austin Rogers, whose 60-yard run in the first quarter put the Gators ahead 7-0.

The win was the first for Huntley (2-2, 2-0) against Crystal Lake South and it was evident as players celebrated with fans who stormed the field as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

“What we’re trying to do is make strides, so sometimes you have to win really close games,” first-year Huntley coach John Hart said. “We had to fight through some adversity with the penalties but our kids got it done.”

Crystal Lake South let a big opportunity slip away on the first possession of the second half.

Following an interception by Gators senior Dennis Gardeck, the offense faced a first-and-10 from the Huntley 15. After taking the ball down to the 1-yard line, a delay of game penalty made Crystal Lake South settle for a field goal.

“I thought we had plenty of time,” said Crystal Lake South coach Chuck Ahsmann. “Unfortunately we didn’t see (the referee) counting. That one is on me.”

Rogers had a stellar game on the ground with an 84-yard scamper on second down from his own 7-yard line in the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Huntley defense, which held in the red zone.

Rogers finished 5-for-13 for 43 yards passing to go along with 160 yards on the ground. He also recorded an interception on defense.

Junior Jake Scalise paced the Huntley offense on the ground with 45 yards on 17 attempts.

“It was a good win for them. It was a fun game but we came up short,” said Rogers. “We just take this and motivate ourselves for next week.”