Palatine MSL West Champs

[PowerI66_]

4 out of last 5 years

 

[kpjasion]

Yes they are!! Barrington and Palatine both 4-1 in conference, but Palatine gets the "(R)" as official conference champion due to beating Barrington straight up.

I can't even imagine what next year will be like....Zach Oles, Joshua Turner, Courtland Cornelius, Johnny O'Shea, Carson Walker, Andrew Martino, Dylan Tapia, Makenzie Balangani, Brody Muck, Scott Elter, JT Streepy, Jack Grochowski...all starters or high impact reserves returning..Plus a very impressive sophomore squad. (IMO..Oles, O'Shea, Walker, Tapia and probably Balangani all deserve all-conference honors this year as juniors)

I'm sure the Daily Herald will pick them to finish fourth again...they did last year and again this year and Palatine won the MSL West both years..but I can legitimately see them running the table and going 9-0 next year.

The only "stick in my craw" is the Fremd game..How a team that only gave up 2 touchdowns or less in 5 games, and gave up less than 30 in the other three games, could give up 35 pts to Fremd in the second half...ugh!! And as it turns out...that's Fremd's only MSL West win and Palatine's only MSL West loss. Well, those games turn out odd sometimes due to the high emotion...it was their only non-competitive half of football all season.

 

[kpjasion]

Yes they are!! Barrington and Palatine both 4-1 in conference, but Palatine gets the "(R)" as official conference champion due to beating Barrington straight up.

I can't even imagine what next year will be like....Zach Oles, Joshua Turner, Courtland Cornelius, Johnny O'Shea, Carson Walker, Andrew Martino, Dylan Tapia, Makenzie Balangani, Brody Muck, Scott Elter, JT Streepy, Jack Grochowski...all starters or high impact reserves returning..Plus a very impressive sophomore squad. (IMO..Oles, O'Shea, Walker, Tapia and probably Balangani all deserve all-conference honors this year as juniors)

I'm sure the Daily Herald will pick them to finish fourth again...they did last year and again this year and Palatine won the MSL West both years..but I can legitimately see then running the table and going 9-0 next year.

The only "stick in my craw" is the Fremd game..How a team that only gave up 2 touchdowns or less in 5 games, and gave up less than 30 in the other three games, could give up 35 pts to Fremd in the second half...ugh!! And as it turns out...that's Fremd's only MSL West win and Palatine's only MSL West loss. Well, those games turn out odd sometimes due to the high emotion...it was their only non-competitive half of football all season.

Actually...what was even more impressive is that they won with Jake Falduto, Dillon McHugh, Jason Lopez, Nick Sabado, Jake Garcia, and Scott Elter all out for the game; Myles Staples and Javone Stricker getting hurt during the game and not returning; and guys like Christian Arenas, Ethan Lloyd and Mike Williams all playing constantly in pain...

 

[JFelice]

kpjaison, I appreciate your excitement and I'm happy for you but you list all these names like they mean something to anyone else... Include their positions or something so we have an idea about them. Congrats to your Pirates though and it appears future is also bright!

 

[PowerI66_]

kp calm a bit my man! I'm excited as well, but you need to realize this program is based on culture, not names. I, too, like those players. However, most end up being great high school players only, and that's FINE by me. They put their heart into every play, that's how the program has won so much recently. Kudos to Rick Splitt who basically had new coaches throughout the program and still got this done. Hopefully we can find playoff success past the first round again.

 

[kpjasion]

PowerI66, I was just pointing out how many key players this year were juniors(or sophomores in O'Shea's and Walker's cases).. Nine starters, five of whom were worthy of being all-conference selections this year..and based on that next year should be a very exciting year with enormous potential. I've no idea how any will fare past high school.. I do know there are six guys from the 2014 team currently playing D2 or D3 ball, so that seems pretty solid to me. And you're right, Splitt's crew has changed each of his three years, but he inherited a good program from Donnelly and has gone 18-9 with two MSL West titles...so yeah, the culture is great and as a fan I get excited. Kinda just tired about always hearing about Barrington and Fremd, and yet Palatine has won 4 out of 5 titles this decade and seems to get very little pub/respect.