Nothing turns to something

Wheeling's brand new scoreboard looked fantastic.

What wasn't very pretty for the Wildcats was the score through 32 minutes in their Friday night battle of defending Mid-Suburban East co-champions with Rolling Meadows.

There was nothing on their side of the board. Nothing was going right as Meadows had a 13-point lead and looked for its 10th straight win over Wheeling.

But that didn't stop the Wildcats from thinking they could turn nothing into something special.

"We're just a fighting team," said Wheeling 5-foot-8, 160-pound senior cat back Tony Brzezniak. "We never give up."

And when the clock reached zero, the scoreboard read Wheeling 14, Rolling Meadows 13.

"I still don't believe it," said senior safety Mike Barton, who gave Wheeling the spark it needed with a 44-yard kickoff return after Meadows missed an extra point. "I know last year we were co-champs, but when we played them they absolutely embarrassed us (35-6 loss). We knew we had to give everything we had."

Especially after a penalty wiped out a 66-yard touchdown run by Mike Zimmer, who delivered one of the hardest hits you'll see and still couldn't pry the ball loose from Meadows' Steve Orchell.

And especially after an option pass from Mick Viken to Orchell and 2 big penalties put Wheeling behind a pair of touchdowns.

"We told them to be patient and not get discouraged when things weren't going right and we did," said Wheeling coach Dave Dunbar. "Our kids hung in there and kept fighting and fighting."

Barton's return led to touchdown run by gutty quarterback Matt Holmes. Two plays later Barton came flying in for an interception into Meadows' territory.

Nothing happened on that possession but Wheeling forced a three-and-out and drove 90 yards to get within 3 feet of the lead. But a touchdown-saving stop by Tyler Diers and a big stop and fumble recovery by Tom Davidson at the Meadows 5 looked disastrous with just 4 minutes left.

But Wheeling didn't flinch.

Defensive coordinator Brian Hauck called for some pressure. Brzezniak came in, delivered a big hit on an option pitch to pop the ball loose and Zimmer fell on it in the end zone.

"We just have a bunch of playmakers on our team," Brzezniak said. "Our time came and it showed."

But there was still time for Meadows to avoid another deflating loss after falling in overtime to Barrington and in the fourth quarter last week to Fremd.

Wheeling got a big scare when Jimmy Garoppolo heaved a deep pass to Orchell for a touchdown. But it was wiped out when Garoppolo crossed the line of scrimmage.

Garoppolo scrambled away from sacks and fired to try and convert a fourth-and-21 pass but Barton flew in again to knock it away. And Jordan Stephani's blast and Brzezniak's recovery at midfield finally sealed the comeback with seven seconds left.

"This says a lot and means a lot to us," Barton said. "I think we're the underdog and we want to prove everybody wrong and prove we're here to be the best team in the East."

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com