Stylish end to East title for Meadows
Trading touchdowns all night like they were going out of style, it was Rolling Meadows which finally went out in style Friday night at George Gattas Stadium in Mount Prospect.
The Mustangs (7-2, 5-0), who never punted over the sloppy track, won their first outright Mid-Suburban East crown since 2000 with an action-filled 46-38 victory over Prospect.
In a battle between two of the area's premier quarterbacks, Meadows senior Jim Garoppolo threw for 336 yards and 1 touchdown and ran for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns behind the offensive line of center Zack Tegtmeier, tackle Jared Diaz, tackle Colin Buscarini and guards Tyler Tegtmeier and guard Patrick Wiebe.
"The only time they got a paw on him was maybe when he stepped up in the pocket, but other than that he wasn't touched," said Meadows coach Doug Millsaps. "They've (offensive linemen) been great all season. They've given up only four sacks all season."
Prospect senior Miles Osei threw for 277 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushed for 76 yards.
"Like I said during the week, Miles is one of the best high school quarterback I've seen," Millsaps said. "But you've got to look at Jimmy, too. If he's not a Division I quarterback, I don't know who is. He's as special a player as they come."
After three quarters, the score was tied at 30-30. Meadows got ahead for good with 9:20 left in the game when Erick Louis-Charles rambled 5 yards for a touchdown to cap 67-yard drive which was the result of one of two fumble recoveries by the Mustangs.
Garoppolo found Tony Taibi for the 2-point conversion and Meadows led 38-30.
The Meadows defense, which got a nice boost from defensive tackle Louis-Charles all night, then came up with its biggest stop of the night, forcing Prospect to turn the ball over on downs at the Meadows' 40-yard line when a fourth-and-15 pass was incomplete.
Meadows proceeded to march 60 yards in 10 plays, capped by Garoppollo's TD toss to Marius Salkauskas with 2:31 left in the game.
"I just had to fight to find the holes in the defense and Jimmy did a great job finding me," said Salkauskas, who had 11 catches for 114 yards. "The line did a great. Everyone did great."
"Marius had two huge catches for first downs," Millsaps said.
"They scored points, so we had to come back and score with them," said Garoppolo, who also completed 7 passes for 128 yards to Artie Checchin. "That's how we got the win and the defense did great."
Peter Bonahoom scored 2 touchdowns and rushed for 152 yards for Prospect (7-2, 3-2).
"Mentally, we did not play smart on defense," said Knights coach Brent Pearlman, whose team received interceptions from Bonahoom and Patrick Inserra. "And offensively, we can not turn the ball over (2 fumbles lost) with the way we were playing defense.
"It would have been nice if the weather would have been more cooperative but both quarterbacks played well in these circumstances."