Tinley Park rolls by Orr

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:12PM

Tinley Park waited a decade to get back to the football playoffs after suffering a first-round loss in 2000 to Bishop McNamara.

This time around, the Titans are determined to make their postseason run last much longer.

So far, so good, as No. 12-seed Tinley Park rolled past fifth-seeded Orr 31-6 in a Class 5A first round contest Saturday at Lane Tech.

The Titans (7-3) became just the third team in school history to win a playoff game, the first since 1993. They will host Vernon Hills (9-1) in the second round.

"Seventeen years is a long time," Tinley Park coach Nick Johnston said. "Whenever you get a win in the playoffs, it doesn't matter if it's an ugly win or a pretty win, you take it. We can't stop now."

Hassan Abdullah (28 carries, 147 yards, 2 TDs) and Kyle Sheridan (13-of-19 passing, 162 yards, TD) led the Titans offense. Tinley Park snapped an eight-game winning streak for Orr (8-2).

Tinley Park's defense held the Spartans to 183 total yards, with 79 coming on a touchdown run by quarterback Jamal McDowell (9 carries, 95 yards), who was just 3-of-15 passing for 29 yards.

"We knew they had speed and we just had to stay in our gaps," said Titans linebacker Marcus Maas, who also caught a touchdown pass. "We wanted to come at them all game."

The Titans led 10-0 after Maas' 4-yard TD catch and Trevor Rolette's 28-yard field goal before McDowell's run cut the lead to four.

Orr appeared set to take momentum into the locker room after stopping the Titans on fourth-and-goal from the 4 with 1:27 left in the half. On the next play, however, Chance Degneggard recovered a fumble to set up an Abdullah 6-yard touchdown run, which helped make it 17-6.

"I have to give our defense all the credit," Sheridan said. "They got us the ball back when we should have scored already."

In the second half, Abdullah scored on a 5-yard run and Frank Redding (7 carries, 40 yards) had a 6-yard TD run.

Eldridge Anderson caught five passes for 93 yards for the Titans.

"We feel really special that we had the chance to be the team to finally win a playoff game," Abdullah said.

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