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Football: Cam Kuska does it all in Palatine's win over Proviso West
Updated: May 9, 2012 9:57AM
Cam Kuksa may never be the biggest guy on the field, but he continues to play like he is.
The junior intercepted two passes to spearhead a lockdown effort by Palatine’s defense and also caught two touchdown passes as the Pirates opened the Class 8A playoffs with a 28-7 win over Proviso West Saturday afternoon in Palatine.
Palatine (9-1) plays the Barrington-Glenbard North winner next week in the second round.
Kuksa picked off Proviso West quarterback Quincy Cole to end the first and last Panther possessions of the first half, which ended with Palatine up 21-0.
“We knew that their team kind of revolves around [Cole],” said Kuksa, who is 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds after growing five inches since last year. “They want the ball in his hands, he’s a playmaker.”
So is Kuksa, whose first cousin is Indianapolis Colts guard and Glenbard North grad Ryan Diem.
“[Cole] does a good job of dropping back,” said Kuksa, who also had a two-interception game vs. Wheeling. “But I just read his eyes and he looks where he’s going to throw.
“It’s fun because everyone up front is doing their job and we can just sit back there and see what’s going on.”
The Pirates got a third interception from Jesse Bobbit, a junior who has six this season and 15 for his career.
Kuksa also was on the receiving end of a pair of touchdown passes from Ethan Olles (12 of 17, 169 yards), a 21-yarder in the second quarter and a 35-yarder in the fourth quarter.
And Kuksa is part of Palatine’s unorthodox quarterback rotation, which also includes Olles and 6-1, 221-pounder John Serio (15 carries, 54 yards).
“We have a lot of good athletes we can run out there,” Pirates coach Tyler Donnelly said. “That’s the nice thing about the shotgun [formation]. Anybody can step back there, it’s not hard.”
Olles, who finished with four touchdown passes, also threw a pair to Taylor Hall: a six-yarder in the first quarter and a 22-yarder in the second.
“We thought that they were a very good defense, so I was pleased to get 21 [points] in the first half,” Donnelly said.
Proviso West (5-5) avoided the shutout when Cole (12 of 25, 112 yards) found Craig Lottie for a 15-yard touchdown pass with 1:29 left in the game.
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