BG turns it up, stops Mundelein

A silent sideline wasn't sitting well with a mud-soaked Mark Zdanewicz.

So, during an early fourth-quarter lull at Mundelein on Friday night, Buffalo Grove's intense linebacker suddenly marched a few steps and screamed at his teammates.

"Why are we quiet?!" he yelled. "Never be quiet!"

Oh, Buffalo Grove wasn't in its season opener.

The Bison announced with authority that they're ready for the 2009 season, getting contributions from their offense, defense and special teams in a 26-0 nonconference win.

Buffalo Grove came up with 3 turnovers - all by junior linebacker Tyler Juckett - and didn't turn the ball over once themselves on the muddy field.

"That's one of the things we stressed this summer - that we got to win in the takeaway category," Bison coach Jim Farrell said. "I think last year we created only 9 turnovers the entire season."

Mundelein, which was shut out five times last season, didn't help its defense, as Buffalo Grove capitalized on great field position the entire first half in building a 20-0 lead.

The Mustangs fumbled a punt snap and had the punt blocked on their first series of the game, leading to the first of 2 short touchdown runs by Kevin Mulligan.

Mundelein fumbled again on its next series and Juckett recovered.

Nine plays later, Mulligan scored from the 2. He then caught the conversion pass to make it 14-0 late in the opening quarter.

Yet another Mustang fumble was recovered again by Juckett and gave Buffalo Grove the ball at the Mundelein 16. Quarterback Mike Garrity capped a 5-play drive by firing a 4-yard TD pass to Dan Recht.

"We played well as a team," said Juckett, who ended the game with an interception. "We've been working on team bonding and mostly turnover drills, which helped us tonight."

Mulligan rushed for 102 yards on just 10 carries. Included was a 65-yard burst on the muddy track.

"I ran all right but Jeremy Salzman, our fullback, opened up some huge holes and obviously the line played great," Mulligan said.

Farrell lauded the blocking of offensive linemen Andrew Busse, Austin Simon, Greg Sanders, Keith Jones and Joe Damisch, as well as Salzman.

"Great effort by the offensive line," Farrell said. "It's a huge improvement from last year to this year."

Garrity, making his first varsity start at quarterback, capped his night by breaking off a 30-yard touchdown run.

"He's a very mature person, even as a 16-year-old kid," Farrell said. "He made a lot of great decisions. He kept us out of negative plays and he (used) his legs. We couldn't throw the ball a lot. (The field) was absolutely caked in mud. He did a great job on some quarterback draws, and when we needed him to throw the ball, he put it dead on the spot. It was a nice first game for him."

Mundelein put together a 15-play drive on the opening series of the second half, but the Bison defense held on fourth-and-3 from the 6.

The Mustangs fumbled five times.

"Nobody's going to play up to their potential in the mud," Mundelein fullback/linebacker Tyler Adams said. "I think we're a better team than we showed tonight. All we can really do is come out and win next week (at Marmion Academy)."