Rolling Meadows lines up 4th straight win

Rolling Meadows' defensive line stood tall in a Mid-Suburban East football opener Friday.

Andrew Neville, Nate Pedraza and Mick Szylak gave Wheeling fits up front, and Rolling Meadows got enough offense through the air to hold off Wheeling 24-9 in Rolling Meadows.

"All three linemen, we feel like they can stand up to anyone," Rolling Meadows coach Matt Mishler said. "They are just thought kids who go hard all the time."

Mishler credited his entire defense led by those front three along with Jace O'Hara, Kevin Faghir and Tim Szylak for a performance that allowed Wheeling to have 18 rushing yards and 51 yards of total offense. The Mustangs sacked Wheeling quarterback Michael Best 8 times and had him on the run for the whole game.

"I thought our defense played lights out," Mishler said. "Our offense put them in one bad situation after another. I thought defensive coordinator Scott Otahal came up with a great plan and the kids executed it perfectly."

Rolling Meadows (4-1, 1-0), which had run the ball quite well in recent weeks, had a difficult time on Friday. So the Mustangs went to the air.

Junior quarterback Arek Kleniuk (16-of-21, 240 yards) and wide receiver Justin Krentz (6 receptions, 123 yards) came up with enough offense to pull the Mustangs through.

"Wheeling played more inside against us so it was harder to run the ball tonight," Kleniuk said. "We had a sloppy game overall, but we were able to come out of it with a win."

Kleniuk connected with Krentz on the Mustangs first offense series on a 21-yard touchdown pass to put Rolling Meadows up 7-0.

"I had the easy part tonight," said Krentz, who scored his first career touchdown. "I was just concentrating on catching the ball."

The duo hooked up again on Meadows' second possession that led to a field goal. Krentz took a deflected pass and after making a nice juggling catch, ran the ball to the Wheeling 8 to complete a 58-yard play. Yamil Roman kicked a 29-yard field goal to make it 10-0.

Wheeling (1-4, 0-1) closed to 10-6 on the second play of the second quarter. Best capped 9-play 50-yard drive with a 1-yard run.

Meadows came right back and scored 3 plays after the ensuing kickoff. Kleniuk connected with Gregory Bouraoui on a crossing pattern and Bouraoui turned it into a 63-yard scoring play and the Mustangs led 17-6.

Thanks to a fumble and a 5-yard punt, Wheeling had a chance to climb back into the game in the second half with great field position. But the Mustangs' defense stiffened up and allowed just a Best 38-yard field goal to lead 17-9.

"Coaches were telling us all week that we had to stop the dive," Neville said. "That is the staple of the or offense. We worked on that all week and made it an emphasis for us. We really stepped it up in the second half."

Meadows was able to put the game away late in the fourth quarter when Jared Axelrad scored on a 6-yard run.

It was a very emotional game for Wheeling coach Brian Hauck, who was an assistant coach at Rolling Meadows before taking over the head coaching job at Wheeling this season. After the game, each of the Rolling Meadows' players hugged their old coach.

Hauck said he loved the effort of his Wheeling team.

"They fought as a team and that is what I am most proud of," Hauck said. "I saw them come together and fight together for something. That is something we had at Rolling Meadows and we are trying to get that same thing at Wheeling."

Mishler said the Wheeling defense, led by Nate Dirkes, Antonio Uriostique, Aidan McCoy and Brandon Zettek were tough on his Mustangs.

"I thought that Wheeling team played as hard as anyone we have seen this year," Mishler said. "We really struggled at times. They are very well coached with Brian over there and it showed."