Opportunistic defense leads way for Meadows
There's nothing like an inspired defensive performance to help break a losing streak.
Rolling Meadows proved that Thursday night as its defense came out firing, forcing 6 turnovers enroute to a 28-0 Mid-Suburban League crossover victory over visiting Hoffman Estates.
The Mustangs picked off 2 Hoffman passes and recovered 4 fumbles to break a two-game skid and improve to 2-2.
"We've been beat up," said Meadows senior linebacker Colin Buscarini, referring to the recent string of injuries, "but tonight we came out and played well across the board.
"It was time for the seniors to step up and I think we did that."
Buscarini recovered 2 fumbles while another senior linebacker, Sean Connor, had one of the interceptions and also came up with a big punt block.
And it wasn't just all defense for Meadows as it got a huge game from sophomore quarterback Jack Milas in his first varsity start. Milas fired 4 touchdown passes.
"It was nerve-wracking," said Milas. "I have to give a lot of credit tonight to my receivers. They helped me out a ton with their size and speed."
Meadows scored three times in the first half on touchdown catches by Scott Shewmon (8 yards), Artie Checchin (5 yards), and Ryan Gundersen (9 yards).
Gundersen tacked on another catch in the second half on a 20-yard strike but the junior, who snared the other Meadows interception from his defensive back position, was more focused on the defensive effort.
"We knew they were a little loose with the ball," said Gundersen, "so we had a goal tonight to come out and get some turnovers."
Milas threw for 132 yards while Shewmon had with 6 catches for 48 yards.
Senior running back Mike Reeves rushed for 79 tough yards on 19 carries for Hoffman Estates (0-4) while teammate Mike DeNight caught 5 passes for 51 yards.
"This was disappointing," said Hoffman coach Bill Helzer, "because with the short week, the main thing we talked about was keeping control of the ball.
"I thought our defense actually played pretty well tonight, especially when you consider that their backs were against the wall for most of the game."