Little big again for Schaumburg
If anyone doubted that Schaumburg's football team is for real, then Friday's 28-6 Mid-Suburban League crossover victory over visiting Buffalo Grove should put an end to that.
The Saxons were dominant on both sides of the ball, rolling up 532 yards total offense, including 331 rushing yards by Shepard Little, whose two-game total is 575 yards in 69 carries. Little scored on runs of 1 and 50 yards in the second half.
Rushing behind an offensive line that offensive coordinator Mark Steger and offensive line coach Bill Lange had to juggle late in the week, Little was a handful for the Bison (1-1) all night.
"The O-line is doing its job, every last one of them," Little said.
Quarterback Mark Iannotti (78 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, 10-of-13 passing for 98 yards and a 34-yard scoring pass to Matt Bolger) provided a second threat BG couldn't contain.
"He makes my life easier," Iannotti said of Little. "After 244 yards last week, Buffalo Grove had to scheme against him, and we have two threats. Schaumburg is a team to be reckoned with."
"Kyle Pollock was out after spending six hours in the emergency room, and Andres Delarosa stepped in," Saxons coach Mark Stilling said. "Jon Moore moved from tackle to guard and Delarosa played tackle. All five kids worked together.
"The offensive line has been a puzzle, but Mark Steger and Bill Lange are phenomenal at what they do."
The Saxons scored once in each quarter. Iannotti's 19-yard run came with 1:28 left in the first, and he connected with Bolger for a score with 6:58 left in the half.
Aided by a pair of Schaumburg penalties, Mike Garrity drove the Bison 56 yards in 5 plays, and the final 7 on a pass to Kevin Tennenbaum for the score with 3:52 left in the half.
Schaumburg hurt itself in the first half by committing 9 penalties for 97 yards, but tightened things up in the second half.
"I think I made it pretty clear that we weren't playing smart football," Stilling said. "I was pretty frustrated. We talked about doing our job and not letting extraneous things get in the way. The kids lost their focus."
Defensively, the Saxons were on top of their game, harassing Garrity when he dropped back to pass and smothering the Bison's ground game.
"It's our Red Swarm defense," said linebacker Kyle Koburi. "You don't see too many one-man tackles. It's all 11 guys on the ball.
"We knew people said (last week's win over two-time defending state champ Maine South) was a fluke. We wanted to prove them wrong."
"It was a hard-fought game," BG coach Jim Farrell said. "They came out pumped up ready to play. It took us a quarter to get used to an MSL game.
"We left our defense on the field too long."