It will be remembered years from now simply as “The Drive.”
Trailing Conant by four with a perfect regular season and the Mid-Suburban West title at stake, No. 7 Barrington put together a 15-play scoring drive to escape with a 22-19 road victory in a thriller Friday night in Hoffman Estates.
The drive covered 73 yards and took 7 minutes 50 seconds. The game-winning play came on a 4-yard TD pass from Scott Sagehorn to Tim Meyer with 1:02 left.
“This is unbelievable,” said Sagehorn, who was 6 of 8 for 62 yards on the final drive. “This is the greatest feeling I’ve ever had.”
The victory gives the Broncos (9-0, 5-0) their first outright league title since 1983 and their first undefeated regular season since 1977. More important, perhaps, it should give Barrington one of the top four seeds in the playoffs.
The final drive was the perfect ending to a memorable season.
“We were really calm in the huddle,” said Barrington running back Dan Pohlman, who finished with 130 yards rushing and one touchdown. “The crowd was going nuts. Scott did a good job of getting us downfield. He’s a great leader. It was just an amazing drive. They’ll be talking about it for a long time.”
Conant (6-3, 3-2) had one last shot. The Cougars moved the ball to midfield. But Russ Michna’s pass hit Barrington’s Peter DeBord in the head and bounced into Joseph Butera’s hands for an interception with 31 seconds left.
The loss was disappointing but not season-ending for the Cougars, who will receive an at-large playoff berth.
“I’m real proud of our kids for the way they played,” Conant coach Dave Pendergast said. “We just had some great plays on both sides. They maybe came up with one more great play.”
Conant jumped to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter. “I told the guys to keep their poise and stick together,” Barrington coach Al Kamradt said. “I don’t know why we got off to a slow start. You don’t expect that in a game like this.”
The Cougars had several chances to put the game away, but Barrington’s defense came up with key plays.
After Meyer intercepted Michna at the 5-yard line, the Broncos’ offense got going.
“Meyer’s interception just turned our whole team on,” Kamradt said. “If they score there, it’s over.”
Sagehorn then hit Kyle Derickson on three straight passes totaling 82 yards, the final one an 8-yard TD with 24 seconds left in the half. “That was big,” Pendergast said. “It’s tough to come back from that.”
