Wright's run helps Fremd edge Meadows

By all rights, Rolling Meadows and Fremd should probably still be playing overtime right now.

That's how close, in both statistics and heart, their Mid-Suburban divisional football contest was last night at Fremd.

But Fremd coach Mike Donatucci said that when Meadows missed the extra point on the TD that put the Mustangs ahead 20-14 with 7:21 left in the game, "I just kind of knew we were going to win. As soon as (they) missed, you could feel the whole sideline pick up."

This despite the fact the Vikings (4-0) were having trouble tackling Mustang quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, let alone stopping the offense he was guiding.

"He's just a stud," said Donatucci.

But on a football team with just 35 guys suited up, as coach Mustangs Doug Millsaps noted, it was hard to sustain anything.

"We're out of bodies," he said. "We're sitting at 2-2. Our biggest concern is getting healthy."

You wouldn't have known Thursday night. The Mustangs didn't trail against the state-ranked Vikings until Evan Wright capped a brilliant 28-carry, 173-yard performance with a 40-yard bolt for a TD with 1:49 left.

Still, Meadows' defense, paced by Eric Louis-Charles and John Sullivan, only allowed Wright one other run in double digits and the Mustangs led 7-0 at halftime.

"That wasn't Fremd football," Wright asserted of the first-half performance. "We came out soft."

And Meadows took advantage, controlling the clock on the arm and legs of Garoppolo, who regularly found favorite targets Tony Taibi (8 catches, 91 yards, 1 TD) and Marius Salkauskas (8 catches, 86 yards), many times in clutch third-down and/or long-yardage situations. Garoppolo made much of it possible with his uncanny scrambling ability and cannon-like arm.

"Unbelievable," Wright said in praise of his opponent. "Oh my God, he buys himself time."

Much of it by breaking tackles. "We're a pretty good tackling team," said Donatucci, "and that kid made us look like idiots."

"You tell me he's not a Division I quarterback," said Millsaps.

But Fremd's James Szafranski had him figured out, finally. He tipped away one pass intended for Salkauskas on Meadows' last possession and then picked one off intended for the Mustangs' wideout to end the possession, and the game, for all intents.

"That kid," said Donatucci, "he's just a great player. He has a motor on him. He's a smart kid. He believes he can make every play."

He didn't quite make every play, as Garoppolo threw for 186 yards, setting up short touchdown bursts by Garrett Peterson. And Garoppolo isn't through yet, either.

"We've got a lot of heart," he said after the game.

Cutting down on penalties (6 for 40 yards) and mistakes (2 picks), will help. Getting healthy bodies back will too.

"We're a good team," said Millsaps.

What's left of it, that is.