Injuries force Meadows to cancel sophomore game with Schaumburg

Football coaches frequently refer to their sport as a numbers game.

But losing numbers at an alarming rate forced injury-depleted Rolling Meadows to cancel its sophomore football season schedule starting with Friday's game with Schaumburg.

"We know it doesn't look good for the program, for the kids and for the MSL (Mid-Suburban League)," said Lisa DaRocha, Meadows' assistant principal for athletics and physical, health and driver's education. "But it's what's best for our kids."

Meadows varsity head coach Doug Millsaps said Thursday night only nine players on the sophomore team were able to dress for practice Monday. Meadows had 28 players listed on its roster for last Friday's game at Palatine but Millsaps said it finished with only 14 players.

Millsaps also said the varsity, which started the year with 40 players, was down to 28 after the Palatine game.

"We've been decimated at every level," Millsaps said of the freshmen also dropping from 47 to 33 players dressed. "The sophomores were the ones I was worried about from the get-go."

Meadows has only two sophomores on its varsity roster. Jack Milas is the No. 2 quarterback and saw action in last week's varsity game at Palatine and Raul Alba-Cortez played when nose guard John Garcia went out with a separated shoulder.

Millsaps and DaRocha didn't think moving freshmen up a level was a viable solution in this instance because of the physical nature of football compared to other sports. The nine healthy sophomores were moved up to the varsity this week.

Millsaps said his first Meadows varsity team started with 28 players and ended with 22. But he said he had never experienced a situation like this.

DaRocha said they wanted to make a decision now on the season so other schools could try to find games for their sophomore teams. She said they would go on a week-to-week basis with each opponent about playing the freshman "A" game as a preliminary before the varsity game.