Trailing 22-7 midway through the third quarter of its Class 7A second round matchup Friday, Wheaton Warrenville South responded with 19 unanswered points to defeat St. Rita 26-22 before an overflow crowd at Red Grange Field in Wheaton.

“They outplayed us, they out-hit us, they dominated us,” said Tiger coach Ron Muhitch. “But I couldn’t be more proud of these kids. They played great clutch football. Everyone did a great job, from our quarterback to our receivers to both the offensive and defensive line. And I would be saying the same thing even if we had lost the game.”

The game started on an ominous note when St. Rita’s Dave Marciano returned the opening kickoff 77 yards to the Tiger 23. Three plays later Mustang quarterback Jason Kafka went in from the 13-yard line, and St. Rita led 7-0.

But late in the same period, Tiger linebacker Sam Burke picked off a Kafka pass and raced 61 yards to tie the score at 7-7 as the quarter came to a close.

WWS (11-0) managed just one possession in a second quarter that saw St. Rita (7-4) score twice, first on a 75-yard drive that featured a 50-yard run by Kafka and then on a 12-play, 66-yard drive that took the last five minutes off the clock and put the Mustangs in front 19-7 at halftime.

St. Rita added a field goal midway through the third period, but that’s when the Tigers began to make their move. They took the ensuing kickoff and marched 80 yards in 10 plays, scoring on a 15-yard toss from quarterback Mike Piatkowski to wide receiver Chris Schweighardt, cutting the margin to eight at 22-14.

“Our captain, Mark La Belle talked to us at halftime,” said defensive back Joe Hernandez. "He gave the most inspiring speech I ever heard, and he said there was no way we were going to lose this game. This was not going to be our last game.”

That speech was beginning to kick in, and early in the final period, running back Peter Jarrett went in from the 7-yard line, capping a seven-play, 68-yard drive. The two-point conversion failed, however, and the Tigers still found themselves trailing by two.

That’s the way it would remain until the four-minute mark when Piatkowski saved the day with a 10-yard scramble on third down, giving his team a first down at midfield.
Three minutes and eleven plays later, the steel-willed quarterback snuck into the end zone from a yard out for the victory.

“It hit us at halftime that if we lost we would never walk on this field again,” said wide receiver Mike Sloboda, who caught three passes on the last scoring drive. "We started to execute and that’s what made the difference.”