13 WREX
An Antioch (Illinois) High School football player catches a would-be Hail Mary in a playoff game against Sycamore.
What should have been one of the most memorable moments in the history of the Antioch Sequoits football program turned into a nightmare on Saturday thanks to a brutal refereeing error.
The top-seeded Sequoits entered their Illinois Class 5A state tournament against Sycamore with a perfect 10-0 record. However, late in the game, they found themselves trailing 32-28 with the seconds ticking away.
That’s when senior quarterback Ethan Patel dropped back and heaved the ball as far as he could down the field. At first, it appeared the ball was batted down by a Sycamore defender. Instead, the ball bounced off the player into the hands of Sequoits’ player Chance Verden, who ran into the end zone for what should have been the game-winning touchdown as time expired.
UNREAL: 5A #1 Antioch has a miracle Hail Mary win taken away by an inadvertent whistle.
Down 32-28 with only time for one play, Chance Verden catches a live bobble for what everyone believed to be the game winning score. The refs rule an inadvertent whistle, starting the play at 0 seconds and at the point of the catch. Sycamore intercepts it to seal the game.
@SequoitFootball @sloche_o #IHSA— Joshua Shuman (@JShumanTV) November 7, 2026
Illinois High School Football Ref Makes Brutal Season-Ending Mistake
Note that we said, “should have been.”
That’s because one of the referees accidentally blew the play dead, thinking the ball had hit the ground. Instead, the refs convened and gave Antioch one untimed down from the place where the ball was caught.
The ensuing pass from Patel was intercepted, and Sycamore advanced to the quarterfinals with a 32-28 victory. High school football fans were in awe of the robbery.
I would sue if I was Antioch that’s insane
— BQ (PARODY) (@BrownBearTweets) November 7, 2026
Hosed
— Pierre (@773CoachP) November 7, 2026
This is disgusting.
— John Bruce (@JBruceSVC) November 8, 2026
Being a high school football referee these days is a thankless job. You don’t make a lot of money, and you have to get harassed by fans and parents who would never step up and do the job themselves.
But in this case, it’s pretty hard not to feel like the referee cost Antioch the victory. And the Sequoits are right to feel hard done by.