Stevenson produces big win vs. Mundelein
The early stages of the 2010 season have been very productive offensively and defensively for the Stevenson football team to say the least.
That trend continued for the host Patriots against Mundelein Thursday night, as they built a commanding 28-0 lead after one half en route to a 42-0 North Suburban Conference Lake Division victory.
No. 9-ranked Stevenson (4-0, 2-0) actually struggled early on offensively against fired-up Mundelein (0-4, 0-2). But the Patriots scored 21 of their 28 first-half points in the final 4:55 of the second quarter.
The Pats looked like they were going to run away and hide from the Mustangs from the opening kickoff as a big kickoff return by sophomore speedster Anthony Bozin put the football on the Mundelein 19.
Four plays later, Stevenson junior Nate Kahn went up the middle for a 4-yard touchdown run before the first of 4 extra points by Matt Micucci made the score 7-0 2:28 into the contest.
The Mustangs played the Patriots tough for most of the first half, but Stevenson really got rolling when quarterback Kevin Earl (9 of 12, 157 yards) faked a handoff to Kahn before handing the ball to senior Joey Cassata.
Cassata bounced outside on the second-and-15 play and he outran the defense for a 59-yard TD run to cap a 9-play, 83-yard drive for a 14-0 lead 4:55 before halftime.
Then a big punt return by Bozin took the ball to the Mustangs' 32-yard-line where on first down Earl lofted a TD pass to Steve Salata in the right corner of the end zone to quickly boost the lead to 21-0 with 3:06 left in the second quarter.
Then came the proverbial backbreaker for Mundelein, as Earl orchestrated a quick 69-yard scoring drive in the final 24 seconds of the first half.
Earl connected with Bozin over the middle for a 57-yard pass play as Bozin got out of bounds at the 9 with eight seconds left in the half.
Then on the next play, Salata made a sensational catch in the right corner of the end zone in a "jump ball" type of situation with a Mundelein defender for a 28-0 lead three seconds before the intermission.
Earl played only the first half for the Pats, while Cassata (81 yards on 8 carries) left the game late in the second half with a minor hamstring pull.
"We came out a little flat, which we really didn't want to do, but we definitely got rolling," said Salata, who caught 6 passes for 90 yards. "We (Earl and Salata) worked a lot over winter and spring to get our timing together and it really paid off."
With Micucci at quarterback, Stevenson marched 45 yards and went ahead 35-0 on a 2-yard TD run by Kahn with 5:45 left in the third quarter.
An interception by Stevenson's Chris Duffey set up the Pats' final score as a 14-yard TD run by Kevin Foley capped the scoring with 4:11 left in the third quarter.
The remainder of the game was played with a running clock.
Mundelein junior Gable Leppert (27 yards passing) started at quarterback for the Mustangs, but senior Ryan VanderPloeg (35 yards passing) also saw a lot of time.
John Devito led the Mustangs with 46 yards rushing on 8 carries.
Foley added 47 yards on 7 attempts for the Patriots.
"We came out a little flat on offense and defense, but you have to give Mundelein a lot of credit for coming out with great fire and great intensity," said Stevenson coach Bill McNamara, whose team had 7 sacks. "Our offense has a nice balance between running and passing and we have very good skill players."