Schaumburg keeps composure
This wasn't the bounce-back kind of first half Schaumburg was looking for Friday night. Especially in a highly-anticipated showdown with seven-time reigning Mid-Suburban West champion Fremd.
Turnovers that hurt the Saxons in their first loss last week to Elk Grove thwarted early scoring chances again. Fremd's defense was responding in its traditional fashion in difficult situations caused by poor field position.
Right before halftime, Fremd freshman Sam Beutler made a veteran play-fake and 35-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Diegel. Schaumburg ran off the field at Gary Scholz Stadium and into its locker room trailing a team it hadn't beaten in its last eight attempts.
One word came to mind for hard-hitting Schaumburg senior safety Bob Quilico.
"Composure," Quilico said.
It came to mind again when Schaumburg's offense was stopped inches short on fourth down at the Fremd 19 midway through the third quarter.
"Composure," said senior defensive end Pat Felde, whose precision punting was also crucial for the Saxons.
Composure that wasn't lost by Schaumburg as its defense came through and its high-powered offense eventually broke through en route to a 17-14 victory.
"We had to man up and play big," said Quilico, who did his part with 11 tackles and a fourth-quarter touchdown catch from Mark Iannotti. "The defensive line played like animals tonight."
Felde, Joe Zolper and Ryan King and Don Wiencek never stopped battling a bigger offensive line that has Division-I beasts in Ohio State-bound Brian Bobek and Northwestern-bound Jack Konopka.
"There were ups and downs in the game but you had to play through it," Felde said.
Especially after a first half where little went right and Fremd had a chance to build on its lead with the first offensive possession of the second half.
"I thought we just made things very difficult on ourselves with mental mistakes and silly mistakes," said Schaumburg coach Mark Stilling. "When you're playing someone as big and physical as they are, and the way they're playing, it would have been easy to give in to fatigue.
"The way things went in the first half, lesser people would have given in to fatigue. That's an indication of our character - particularly from our leaders."
Zolper helped set the tone with his relentless work up front. Fremd went three-and-out on three straight possessions and Shepard Little carried seven straight times for 53 yards and the go-ahead score.
"The momentum kept coming," Quilico said.
It looked all but over when Felde dropped a 34-yard punt off the turf that Quilico downed at the 1 with 2:20 to play.
But Beutler showed his own poise by leading a march down the field and scoring with 37.5 seconds left to make things a little restless on the Schaumburg sideline.
There were flashbacks to a wild finish two years ago where the Saxons saw a potential last-minute win turn into a last-second loss. But a failed onside kick attempt had them headed toward another big showdown next Saturday at unbeaten Barrington.
And another test of their composure.
mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com