Glenbard North’s offense wasn’t fancy Friday, but the Panthers didn’t need it to be.
A steady dose of Donato Gatses was enough to carry the Panthers to a 41-23 victory against Lake Park in Carol Stream.
Gatses ran for 296 yards and four touchdowns. Quarterback Kyle Melody tossed a pair of TD passes as the Panthers scored five times in the middle quarters to break the game open.
The Panthers (4-2, 2-2) celebrated homecoming with the DuKane Conference win.
Despite 35 carries, Gatses was ready for more.
“I’m just excited out here,” he said. “In the moment, I’m just in the zone and never get tired. I’m always ready to go.”
He got the Panthers on the scoreboard with a 6-yard run in the second quarter, then added a 2-yarder just before halftime.
Glenbard North broke the game wide open with three third quarter scoring drives. Gatses scored on a 30-yard run to make it 21-3. Then Melody threw touchdowns of 26 yards to Tyler Hvorcik and 27 yards to Zechariah Morris.
The Panthers’ opening drive ended when a fake punt attempt came up short. Lake Park then drove to Kevin Salwach’s 28-yard field goal. The Lancers trailed just 7-3 until Gatses scored 25 seconds before halftime.
“The second quarter we just snapped together,” Gatses said. “We knew we needed to lock in and take care of business.”
Down 34-3 in the fourth quarter, the Lancers (2-4,0-4) rallied behind backup quarterback Taysean Smith. He led Lake Park to two scores in less than a minute. He ran for one himself. After the Lancers recovered an onside kick, he found Nick Menos for another touchdown.
That gave the Lancers some hope at 34-16, but after an offside penalty on the onside kick attempt, they elected to kick it deep for a touchback.
On Glenbard North’s next play, Gatses rumbled for 48 yards. He eventually finished the drive with his final touchdown of the night, pretty much ending Lake Park’s chances.
Smith threw his second touchdown pass to Caleb Mejia in the closing minute.
Before that, George Tzamouranis threw for 81 yards. Kendan Ratini added 83 yards on the ground for the Lancers.
The Panthers, however, were able to control the ball behind Gatses, racking up 20 first downs to the Lancers’ nine. But they hurt themselves with 97 penalty yards.