Rolling Meadows 28, Hoffman Estates 6

A converted safety helped make sure Rolling Meadows' perfect record was kept safe Friday night.

Playing in only his fourth game at linebacker, senior Joe Okon recovered a fumble and picked off his first two passes of the season. Okon ran one back for a 31-yard touchdown as the state's top-ranked Class 7A team posted a 28-6 Mid-Suburban League crossover win over Hoffman Estates at Garber Stadium.

"Joe was flying around and making big plays," said Meadows coach Doug Millsaps, whose team is 4-0. "And for the first time, I thought our front three (junior Rick Brown, senior Paul Hames and sophomore Eric Charles Lewis) really got off the ball and created a lot of pressure."

Okon's interception for a TD with 7:08 left in the third quarter was the only scoring in the second half.

About five minutes later, Hoffman (1-3) moved into Meadows' territory when Okon picked off another pass at the 39.

"We had a lot of safeties this season," Okon said. "And linebacker is more my style. I just want to keep getting better and better."

Hoffman coach Bill Helzer sees his team getting better.

"Physically, coming off games with Prospect and Rolling Meadows, we feel we can play with these teams," he said. "We feel we've come a long way here in two years. We just have to fix the mental mistakes."

Quarterback Ben Sabal's 6-yard TD run gave Meadows a 7-0 lead but Hoffman cut it to 7-6 when Tyler Davis caught an 18-yard pass from Blake Heyman with 4:38 left in the first quarter.

The Mustangs scored twice in the second quarter on a 1-yard keeper by Sabal and a 16-yard fumble recovery return by Jim Garoppolo.

Hames jarred the ball loose from Heyman, allowing Garoppolo to scoop it up and race to the end zone.

Meadows junior Daquan Edwards started in place of Mikal Johnson and rushed for 114 yards.

Millsaps said Johnson was late for practice Thursday. The senior (4 carries, 18 yards) entered midway through the second quarter.

"That the great thing about high school football," Millsaps said. "There are lot of opportunities. One man showing up late is another man's opportunity."

Meadows was 5-of-15 passing for 58 yards.

"I thought Jerome Henderson (Hawks junior defensive back) played a great game," Helzer said. "He shut down Ty Kirk (14.9 yards per catch) to 1 yard (on 1 catch)."