Mundelein stops Z-B

If there is one thing that can always fire up and inspire a team in any sport, it would be the final home game on senior night.

That was the backdrop for the winless Mundelein football team Friday night as the host Mustangs faced Zion-Benton, which was also winless in the always powerful North Suburban Conference Lake Division.

And when all was said and done, Mundelein (1-8, 1-5) captured a 14-13 victory with a number of players playing huge roles in the Mustangs' victory.

Zion-Benton (0-9, 0-6) was the second team in as many years that Mundelein beat at home in the final game of the regular season. Last year the Mustangs beat visiting Libertyville in a quagmire to prevent the Wildcats from qualifying for the state playoffs.

The contest featured a lot of drama as two lightning strikes under a full moon resulted in the mandatory 30-minute delay with Zion-Benton leading 7-0 with 7:47 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

But the delay did not stop the Mustangs' momentum at all as they had the ball on their own 38-yard-line when play resumed.

It did take a huge trick play though to get Mundelein on its way to the end zone as a fake punt resulted in a 34-yard run by punter Brian Grant to put the ball on the Zee-Bees 28-yard-line.

Senior running back D.J. Lewis really shined in his final contest as he broke off a 15-yard run on first down.

Then on second down and 7, Lewis (121 yards on 15 carries) found a big hole on the right side of the offensive line and he bolted through it for a 10-yard TD run.

The extra point by junior Jordan Bregenzer made the score 7-7 with 5:31 left in the first half and the score remained 7-7 at halftime.

Junior Gable Leppert (4 carries for 44 yards) was at quarterback for the Mustangs during their first scoring drive. But it was senior quarterback Ryan VanderPloeg that led Mundelein to what proved to be the game-winning TD to open the third quarter.

It took only two minutes for the Mustangs to march 65 yards on 6 plays with senior running back John Devito going from right to left through numerous defenders en route to the end zone and a 10-yard TD run before Bregenzer's extra point made the score 14-7.

Zion-Benton moved the ball effectively throughout the game as a 12-yard TD pass from Cole Urban to Zack Creekmore gave them a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter.

After Mundelein took its 14-13 lead, the Zee-Bees responded with a short 40-yard drive with an 8-yard TD run by Alex Pasiewicz (123 yards on 15 rushes) making the score 14-13 with 1:55 left in the third quarter.

But then came a huge missed extra point as the kick went wide right to keep the Mustangs ahead at 14-13.

Mundelein worked its way out of being deep in its own territory midway through the fourth quarter before a great 50-yard punt by Grant with a penalty tacked onto it put Zion-Benton on its own 2-yard-line.

The Zee-Bees were forced to punt and the Mustangs came up with two big runs on third down by Pablo Mata (71 yards on 16 carries) and L.D. Frison to keep the ball out of the hands of Zion-Benton which only had one timeout left.

Mundelein was on the 9-yard-line late in the game, but reserve quarterback Dylan Valkenaar took a knee twice to run out the clock and set off a big celebration on the field.

“Everyone just wanted it so bad and after losing all these games it just feels great,” said Lewis. “Our offensive line just totally stepped it up, our quarterbacks were solid, and our wide receiver Antonio Hernandez had some amazing blocks out there the whole game.”

Mundelein had 17 first downs in the contest while Devito rushed for 32 yards on 6 carries. Grant added 45 yards on 4 attempts in the versatile offensive attack.

“The kids on both teams really deserved a victory and we really wanted to go out with a win,” said Mundelein coach Bob Stone. “We played tonight like we wanted to all year where we had several guys running the ball well. We were very competitive, they played hard all the time, and this season flew by because this is such a great group of kids.”

Urban was impressive with 140 yards passing on 12-of-20 attempts.