Notre Dame’s record-setting passing duo leads playoff win in Niles

Notre Dame’s football team moved ahead in the Class 6A playoffs with a 44-0 victory over Maine West on Saturday in Niles. Quarterback Eric Couper delivered five touchdown passes, including two to Peter Panagiotopoulos, as the Dons improved to 6-4 and gave local supporters another week of postseason football to follow.

The partnership behind that performance began well before high school. Couper and Panagiotopoulos became close friends in seventh grade at St. Juliana on Chicago’s Northwest Side. When Couper decided to move from defense to quarterback before entering Notre Dame, they spent the summer practicing passes together wherever they could find a field.

Their progress has produced a series of school records. Panagiotopoulos now holds Notre Dame’s career marks with 85 receptions and 1,233 receiving yards. This season, he has established school records with 70 catches, 1,015 receiving yards and 16 touchdown receptions. Couper has set the school’s single-season passing marks with 2,226 yards and 31 touchdowns.

Neither player began high school with an obvious path to those totals. Panagiotopoulos had only one reception as a freshman. Couper quarterbacked the freshman team but did not become the varsity starter until his senior season. Coach Dan DeFranza credited their extra practice together and their work habits for helping turn that early development into production.

Against Maine West, Couper completed nine of 11 passes for 207 yards. Panagiotopoulos accounted for 103 yards on three catches, while Nathan Nowak, JD Look and Deonte Macon also caught touchdown passes. Notre Dame scored all 44 points before halftime, and the second half was played with a running clock.

The Dons took an early lead after Maine West’s opening possession ended with a punt that went out of the end zone for a safety. Two plays later, Couper connected with Panagiotopoulos for a 39-yard touchdown. Maine West finished the game with a 3-7 record.

Notre Dame is averaging 33 points per game, with DeFranza also crediting the offensive line’s work for the record-setting passing numbers. The Dons are scheduled to travel to Grant next week for their next playoff game, extending a season shaped by a friendship that links a Northwest Side classroom to the field in Niles.