Meadows delivers shutout

There's been a lot of preseason attention for Rolling Meadows, but the Mustangs weren't overconfident heading into the season opener Saturday night at Hinsdale South.

They were ready to play. Clearly.

Behind a potent mixture of ball-control offense and stingy defense, Meadows overwhelmed the Hornets 41-0 in Darien.

"We made up our minds to come in and play as a team," said Meadows senior running back Mikal Johnson, who led the Mustangs with 64 yards rushing. "We wanted to play together and play for each other."

They did just that as Johnson ran for 2 touchdowns while Ben Sabal, Daquan Edwards, and David Ubert each rushed for 1 score.

Sabal finished with 9-for-15 passing for 157 yards and a touchdown.

"We were all pumped up," said Meadows senior Kevin Serna after the Mustangs saw the game delayed by a day due to Thursday's damaging storms. "It just made us more anxious, more fired up to go out and get a win."

"We didn't get the call Friday until 11 or 11:30 -- to be on the practice field at 2:30 because the game was cancelled."

Now to the defense. The Mustangs kept a 14-0 halftime lead thanks to TD's from Johnson and Sabal, and a late stand on 'D' when clutch tackles by Joe Okon and Kelly Jauch stopped Hinsdale South on downs deep in Meadows territory.

Then, to start the third quarter, the Hornets recovered a Meadows fumble and on fourth down from the Mustangs 33, Hinsdale QB Gary Mayberry lofted a pass that appeared to be caught at the Meadows 8-yard line.

But at the last possible second Meadows defensive back Ty Kirk knocked the ball away.

"It was a cover 3," Kirk said of the defensive scheme. "I saw the quarterback float one up, and I tried to time my hit. I hit him as he caught it and he dropped the ball."

Meadows controlled the remainder of the game as receiver Mick Viken caught a 32-yard touchdown pass, Johnson burst through the middle for a 4-yard TD run, Edwards scored from 1-yard out and Ubert scampered into the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown.

Not bad for a team that, according to Kirk (5 receptions for 77 yards from his wide receiver position), hadn't excelled in the days leading up to the contest.

"Coach (Doug Millsaps) had told us that we weren't practicing very well," Kirk said. "He told us to come out and play as a team, and we did that."