It was one of those season-defining plays and the Hinsdale Central defense wasn’t about to give an inch.
Driving in Hinsdale territory for a possible go-ahead score with less than two minutes remaining, Barrington faced fourth-and-2. As was the Broncos’ offensive plan throughout the game, halfback Andre Anderson got the call, but on the carry he was greeted by a stone wall of Red Devils defenders.
“We knew whoever came up with that fourth-down play was going to win the game,” said Hinsdale defensive end Jack Dinardo, who also caught a first-half touchdown pass. “There was a lot of emotion; everyone just looked into each other’s eyes and we knew we could pull it off.”
With Barrington out of timeouts, the Red Devils ran four plays after the change of downs to run out the clock and a hard-fought 20-18 Class 8A quarterfinal victory was theirs.
Each team traded touchdowns, with the difference being Barrington’s three missed PATs, two of them two-point tries. Hinsdale quarterback Brett Morse’s 70-yard scoring ramble on an option gave the Red Devils (9-3) their final lead with 10 minutes 47 seconds left, and the defense did the rest.
As has been the case repeatedly this year, Morse, who mustered 128 yards on 18 carries despite being bottled up most of the game, came through when his team needed him most.
“I read the outside linebacker and he took the dive, so I just went around the horn,” Morse said of his game-winning score. “We just knew it would come down to one or two plays; all close games do. We just kept digging down deep.”
Trailing 14-12 at halftime, Barrington (8-4) took an 18-14 lead with 4:19 left in the third as Ted Schell found Dain Hall from 4 yards out to cap a drive on which Anderson accounted for 50 of the 70 yards. But Anderson was stopped on a two-point try.
“We didn’t capitalize on our conversions and it came back to haunt us,” said Anderson, who finished with 163 yards on 32 carries. “We had some trouble getting in that last play and just came up a little short.”
