A Goro-geous finish

Maine South's Charlie Goro looks for an open receiver against Glenbrook South.
(Stacia Timonere/For the Sun-Times)

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Charlie Goro engineered a game-winning drive in a Maine South minute.

The top-rated Hawks drove 84 yards in the last minute and Joey Orlando booted a 28-yard field goal with 5.9 seconds to play as Maine South rallied to knock off Glenbrook South 30-27 before standing-room crowd of more than 6,000 in a battle of Central Suburban South leaders Friday night in Glenview.

Facing and third-and-19 at his own 5 after being sacked, Goro (20-for-27, 211 yards) connected with Orlando for 25 yards. Then, the Vanderbilt-bound star ran for 22 yards on a quarterback draw before throwing a 25-yard pass to Sam Chwarzynski.

Goro then ran to the 11 and after two timeouts by the Titans, Orlando kicked the game winner.

‘‘I just wanted it to end with us ahead and get out of here,’’ Orlando said. ‘‘We were surprised at halftime [down 19-7), and the leaders had to calm the kids down.’’

‘To be honest, I’m speechless about that last drive,’’ Goro said. ‘‘This was like a playoff game. I think we proved to everybody that we deserve to be No. 1. We showed we could come back against a real good team.’’

The Hawks (7-0, 3-0) took the second half kick and drove 64 yards, scoring on a 10-yard run by Matt Perez. After Demos Tingas recovered a fumble, Goro capped a scoring drive with a seven-yard pass to Perez to put the Hawks ahead 20-19.

With 5:13 to play, Perez busted loose for a 53-yard score and a 27-19 lead.

‘‘I told the kids at halftime, they didn’t have to panic,’’ Hawks coach Dave Inserra said. ‘‘This was a big game for us. But we can get better.’’

But the Titans (6-1, 2-1) scored on an 11-yard pass from Ryan Hopkins to Alex Langill and a two-point conversion pass from Hopkins to Michael Schroeder tied the game with 2:01 remaining.

After Wayne Messmer and his wife Kathleen sang the National Anthem, the teams traded possessions. But the second time Maine South had the ball, the Hawks had a 13-play scoring drive capped by a one-yard scoring run from Goro with 2:03 to play in the first quarter.

But the rest of the first half belonged to the Titans. Glenbrook South took the ensuing kick and marched 83 yards capped by by a 10-yard scoring run by Mike Hirsch to tie the game at 7.

The defense held and three plays after a punt, Hopkins threw a 67-yard scoring pass to Langill.

Then, John Riley got the second interception of the first half for the Titans and returned it 42 yards to the Maine South 5. Three plays later, Hirsch plowed in from a yard out to make it 19-7.

The defense continued its inspired play and forced a punt after Goro was sacked by Pater Mann and Sean Cascarano on consecutive plays and forced a punt in the closing second of the half.