Checchin, Meadows keep hope alive

Artie Checchin's career night kept the playoff hopes of Rolling Meadows alive.

The junior wide receiver caught 8 passes for 202 yards and 3 touchdowns as the Mustangs defeated host Hersey 30-21 in the Mid-Suburban East.

Meadows senior quarterback Kevin Cwynar, in his first game back from injury, completed 17-of-23 passes for 324 yards and 4 TD's.

"We came out and rallied around each other tonight," said Checchin. "This was a total team effort."

Scott Shewmon caught 4 passes for Meadows including the game clinching touchdown grab late in the fourth quarter.

"We came and played with an intensity tonight which I haven't seen in awhile, and that was fun to see," said Meadows coach Doug Millsaps.

Running back Zach Johnson was the workhorse for the Huskies. He rushed 21 times for 130 yards.

"We haven't played well on pass defense all year," said Hesey coach Dragan Teonic. "We had some bad bounces tonight but you've got to make the stops and make the plays."

Checchin scored on throws on 15 and 40 yards to help stake Meadows to an early lead, but Hersey caught fire in the run game and TD's from Chris Polinski (1 yard plunge) and Erik Stoltzner (two runs from 1-yard out) put the Huskies up 24-21 in the fourth quarter.

But Meadows came back on another great catch from Checchin, this time from 44 yards away.

The Mustangs put the icing on the cake minues later when on fourth down, Cwynar hit Shewmon from 8 yards out in the corner of the end zone to close out the scoring.

Hersey had one last gasp and marched down to the Meadows 5 yard line but a huge sack from Mustangs lineman Zach Tegtmeier stymied Hersey and helped put the game away.

"We knew we had to stop them," said Tegtmeier, "to put ourselves in position to win next week against Elk Grove and make the playoffs.

"We've put ourselves in a difficult situation," added Millsaps, "but not an impossible one."