Maine South‘s defense put the clamps on Palatine Friday in Park Ridge.

The Hawks defense forced 10 three-and-outs for Palatine, which had come into the game averaging 37 points per game. Meanwhile the Mine South offense put together five long scoring drives as the Hawks flew past Palatine 52-6.

“Our defense is getting mature,” Maine South coach Dave Inserra said. “We had just one broken play where we had a guy coming up to cover the short guy. Besides that, I was really happy with the packages we brought in.”

The Maine South defense, led by Jake Cantal, Dean Arvanitis, David Piotrowski, Tommy Leach, Matt Schlenhardt, Marty Greif, Nick Hachigan, and Gavin Smith, were flying to the ball all game. They held Palatine to just 28 yards rushing and 112 yards of total offense until the Pirates’ final drive of the game.

“That is how you do it, that is how you play the Hawk way,” said Arvanitis, who plays on the defensive line. “We listened to our coaches. It was all about the heart.”

Cantal, who plays middle linebacker for the Hawks, said that they have been working hard to get things done on the defensive side.

“We have been preparing all week,” Cantal said. “We shut down (Warren running back) Aaron Stewart last week. The last two weeks we have been building and we are only going to get better.”

Maine South (2-1) had things going their way early in the game as the Hawks grabbed a 10-0 lead.

The Hawks’ opening 11-play drive stalled at the Palatine seven. That led to a 24-yard field goal by Kaden Hamdan.

Maine South scored early in the second quarter as Jameson Purcell drove the Hawks again. Niko Kokosioulis capped the scoring drive with a 9-yard touchdown run.

Palatine, which had struggled on offense, then got a huge boost from the defense.

Tony Balanganayi recovered a fumble at the Maine South 48. Two plays later, Palatine quarterback Will Santiago eluded some Maine South pressure. He found a wide-open Jayden Evans, who had slid behind the Hawk secondary for a 49-yard scoring play to make it 10-6.

Maine South came right back with a 65-yard scoring march. Purcell ended the seven-play drive with a one-yard run to make it 17-6.

Palatine (2-1) drove inside the Maine South 10 in the final minute of the half. But the Hawks defense turned the Pirates away.

It was all Maine South in the second half.

Purcell (20-of-30, 192 yards) threw two touchdown passes. He tossed a five-yarder to Jake Davis and a 19-yarder to Finn Haugh.

Kokosioulis added touchdown runs of two and 25 yards. Payton Donaldson closed out the game with a 65-yard touchdown run.

The loss could be especially bad for Palatine when Kole left the game in the third quarter with a severe injury to his arm.

Palatine coach Corey Olson said that it was a rough night all over for his Pirates.

“We have all been in games like that where nothing seems to go our way,” Olson said. “We didn’t create the big plays that we needed to create in that game. They did. It is a reset button game and we will get to work for next week.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250912/prep-football/maine-south-stymies-palatine-for-2nd-straight-statement-win/