Palatine hands Fremd its first loss in wild ending

PALATINE – Palatine’s Detton Tietjens recovered a fumble in the end zone with 49.3 seconds left as the Pirates escaped with a 28-21 win over Fremd on Thursday in Palatine.

“I just saw it laying there,” Tietjens said. “We knew they were going to run a QB sneak up the middle. We practiced against it all week. We got a great push up the middle from Jaylen Williams and others and the ball just popped loose.”

The win moved Palatine (6-1, 3-0) into sole possession of first place in the MSL West.

Fremd (6-1, 2-1) had driven down the field in the final two minutes after Palatine missed a field goal. The Vikings’ Johnny O’ Brien (20-of-32, 321 yards) had marched Fremd from their own 20 when the ball came loose in the end zone.

Cole Fager rushed for 79 yards and three touchdowns while Will Santiago had 96 yards as Palatine derailed Fremd in the annual “Battle of the Tracks” before a massive crowd estimated of 5,000,

Fremd opened the scoring with an impressive 99-yard drive in just seven plays. O’Brien connected with Brennan Saxe on a 24-yard touchdown pass on a play that Saxe came back for the ball and outdueled the Palatine defender.

Palatine came right back with a 74-yard touchdown drive. Santiago fired a crossing pattern to Kole Fager, who took it for the distance to tie the game at 7-7 late in the first quarter.

Fremd’s next possession had the Vikings drive to the Palatine 15. But on a fourth-and-one play, the Vikings came up short on a dropped pass.

Palatine seized the momentum and put together another solid scoring drive. The Pirates marched the distance in 12 plays aided by a 35-yard pass from Santiago to Fager. The drive was capped on a one-yard run by Fager to make is 14-7 midway through the second quarter.

It took Fremd just three plays to tie the game at 14-14. O’Brien found Saxe on a short crossing pattern and Saxe (10 receptions, 176 yards) turned on the jets to outrun the Palatine defenders on a 59-yard scoring play.

After Fremd missed a field goal early in the third quarter, Palatine went to work again. Running behind their huge offensive line, the Pirates drove to the Fremd 22. There Fager busted up the middle untouched for a 22-yard score to pull ahead 21-14.

Palatine had an opportunity to increase its lead when the Pirates had an apparent interception return for a touchdown called back because of a holding call. Fremd then took advantage when O’Brien hooked up with Aiden Patel for a 16-yard touchdown to tie the game at 21-21 late in the third quarter.

Undaunted, Palatine pulled ahead again.

The Pirates used their running game to move the ball to the Fremd 18. There Palatine resorted to a bit of trickery, running a reverse to get the ball back to Santiago, who then threw to a wide open Ryan Donnelly to make it 28-21 just before the end of the third quarter.

Both teams came up empty on their next possessions.

Fremd drove to the 31 but turned the ball over on downs. Palatine then had a 9-minute drive, only to miss a field goal.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241010/prep-football/palatine-hands-fremd-its-1st-loss-in-wild-ending/