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Schools

Maine South's Hope For A 4th Straight State Title Falls Short At Stevenson

The Hawks fell behind by 17 points in the second half as rally fell two points short at 24-22.

A Maine South football team trailing 24-7 in the third quarter of a playoff game? Unthinkable. Especially an unbeaten Hawks team.

And yet it was true on Saturday afternoon in Lincolnshire. When Stevenson quarterback Matt Micucci found Troy Radtke open for a 21-yard scoring play there were eight minutes to play in the third quarter. And Micucci's extra point gave the home-standing Pats a 24-7 lead.

Recall this was a No. 2 seed (Maine South) trailing a No. 7 seed (Stevenson) by 17 points. And it wasn't like the Hawks were giving the home team much trouble. The team's first possession after that Pats' score produced one first down and a punt. The second possession posed a second-down-and 17 play for South QB Matt Alviti.

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Maine South (10-1) didn't fold. The Hawks scored the game's next 15 points. That would leave South short and the 24-22 loss at Stevenson ended a three-year run in which the Hawks won three straight state titles.

Oh, that second-and-17 play from the Maine South 13-yard line did produce. It was a 23-yard pass play from Alviti to Jimmy Frankos.

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"We started out slowly,'' Alviti said. "We weren't ready. We couldn't anything going. And Stevenson was a very good football team today."

Still, the Maine South comeback was something special. It wasn't all passing as Alviti wasn't shy about using his senior running back Paul Preston, all 5-foot-4 of him. His 22-yard gallop through the Stevenson defense brought the ball deep in Stevenson territory.

Maine South officially got on the board with under a minute to play in the third quarter. Alviti hit Frank Perrone and this receiver went 23 yards for a touchdown. The Hawks opted for a two-point play here and that paid off with an Alviti to Preston pass. It was a 24-15.

"We did make a great comeback,'' Alviti said.

The Patriots of Stevenson weren't quite ready to celebrate this second-round playoff game.

"When it was 24-7 there was still a lot of football left to play,'' said Stevenson coach Bill McNamara. "We saw that Maine South never quits."

This had once been a one-touchdown game. That was in the second quarter. After one Hawks drive ended with an end zone interception, another late march did pay off with points. Alviti found Frankos for a 35-yard TD pass with two minutes left in the first half. Stevenson did add a field goal before the break and took a 17-7 lead to halftime.

Maine South's defense helped out during the second half. Both John Cerniglia and Danny Allegretti had interceptions. And then Alviti took the ball himself on a 15-yard scamper. With a little over 10 minutes to play in regulation, the Hawks were within 24-22.

Maine South would run only three more offensive plays.

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