A little more breathing room this time for Stevenson
After pulling out a 50-49 shootout win over Glenbrook South last week, visiting Stevenson wanted to keep the positive momentum going Friday night in its North Suburan Conference football opener at Mundelein.
And after an 87-yard kickoff return by Bret Kraiman to open the game, it was all downhill for the Patriots as they built a commanding 35-0 halftime lead en route to a 42-0 Lake Division victory over the outmanned Mustangs.
Still leading 7-0, Stevenson (3-0, 1-0) got the ball back midway through the first quarter and junior quarterback Kevin Earl hit Nate Johnson for a 54-yard scoring play as Johnson grabbed the pass out of the air after it had deflected off Mundelein defender Kyle Maranto.
Mundelein (0-3, 0-2) could not stop the Pats on their next drive either, as Earl fired a short pass to running back Matt Harris, who broke a tackle before scoring on the 37-yard TD reception. The third of five first-half extra points by Mike Praljak made the score 21-0 with 2:44 left in the first quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Mundelein fumbled near its own goal line and Stevenson junior Chris Duffey was right on the spot to scoop up the ball and run it in for another quick TD and a 28-0 lead just eight seconds after the previous score.
Stevenson added another TD with 2:22 left in the second quarter as Weisman scored on a 6-yard run up the middle for the 35-point lead at the intermission.
"I thought we looked good on offense even though we were a bit sloppy," said Earl, who threw for 110 yards overall. "Our timing was a little bit off, and Nate Johnson helped me out on some of those deep balls, and our running game always does good work."
After stopping the Mustangs on their first drive of the third quarter, the Patriots put the game totally out of reach when senior running back Paul Zuradzki ran left and raced 61 yards down the sideline for a 42-0 lead 2:47 into the second half.
Zuradzki ended up leading the Pats rushing with 81 yards on 6 carries while Weisman had 52 yards on 8 attempts. Harris chipped in 42 yards on 5 carries.
Mundelein was unable to establish much offense against Stevenson's stubborn defense as quarterback Brian Santiago (42 yards passing) was held to 30 yards rushing on 15 attempts as Santiago was sacked on numerous occasions.
"We just did what we had to do to get the victory and it was nice to see (Kraiman) break the kickoff return for the touchdown," said Stevenson coach Bill Mitz. "We wanted to connect on a few more passes and we don't like dropped passes like that, but all of the seniors got to play."