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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG6Cd9cDGt0
PALATINE – It happens so many times at the end of a football game.
The field-goal team comes out and, with all the pressure on, the kicker calmly gets the ball through the uprights to give his team the win.
Edwardsville's Devin Parker experienced that Saturday afternoon when he connected on a 31-yard field goal with 48.5 seconds left to give the Tigers a 38-35 win over Palatine in the second round of the IHSA Class 8A football playoffs; the win set up a quarterfinal game this coming weekend at home against Minooka.
“I was warming up and I saw it coming,” Parker said. “I knew it was coming down to either me or Kendall (Abdur-Rahman); when they stopped us on third (down), I knew it was my time to come and all the weight was going to be on my shoulders.
“I just went out there and did what I do every time, going through my routine and hit the shot; it's just a little more nerve-racking with the whole student section screaming my name. This is my senior year; I just knew I wanted to go farther in the playoffs; I think we can make it, we just have to take it one game at a time.”
That the Tigers will be at home for the quarterfinals is making Parker happy.
“I just want to play for the home crowd once again as a senior,” Parker said. “We'll be ready; we'll practice hard this week and do what we do.”
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