Schaumburg hopes to follow Elk Grove lesson plan
Elk Grove didn't have much time to see if it learned its lessons from an overtime loss to Barrington two weeks ago.
On the second play of Thursday's Mid-Suburban League football crossover, the Grenadiers lost a fumble at their 25. Three plays later, Schaumburg was in the end zone.
Not exactly the way to start off a big test against the state's top-ranked Class 8A team on its home turf.
"We didn't put our heads down," said Elk Grove quarterback-safety Nick Meyer after another electrifying performance. "We knew coming into this game they have an explosive offense. If they score here, we have to go down and score back."
The scoring went back and forth until the Grenadiers emerged with a 36-34 victory. Concerns with how they would come out of a rugged crossover schedule that also included Fremd were answered.
They weren't too far from being 4-0 and maybe a valuable lesson kept them from going into East play 2-2.
"This was a big one for our kids to get over the hump and beat a great team," said Elk Grove coach Brian Doll. "We overcame adversity and fought back from some tough moments. We showed a lot of character."
Meyer and Schaumburg standout Shepard Little showed how they can take your breath away on even the shortest of runs. But this game also showed these are not one-man teams.
Not only is Meyer tough to stop with the ball in his hands but also when he lets it fly to slick and quick receivers such as Kyle Pass, who was injured on a 91-yard fumble return, Joey Bishoff, Eddie Stahl, Eddie Solorio and Mike Wary.
"We did a lot of different things with new formations to try to confuse their defense up," Meyer said. "Receiver-wise I can pass the ball where I want and they're small, but it's a really good offensive line."
Tackles Martin Kazecki and Peter Ioakimidis, guards Greg Johnsen and Tom Jen and center Sean Majer gave Meyer room to pile up 368 total yards.
Schaumburg had to respond with the explosive Little missing most of the second half with an injured hip. Coach Mark Stilling didn't think it was serious but didn't want to take any big chances since it's mid-September and not late October or early November.
Mark Iannotti threw for 196 yards and 4 touchdowns. Brandon Kibby came in and gained 26 yards on his three second-half carries.
"Kibby stepped up and filled his shoes and the responsibility fell on me because we needed to open up the passing game," Iannotti said. "Obviously having Shep out hurt us, but you can't dwell on it. You have to play and you have to move on."
The Saxons did to get within a 2-point conversion of a tie with 5:15 to play. But the Grenadiers also showed they weren't dwelling on any of the bad things that happened Thursday.
Jimmy Sanders, John Eliades and Dejan Basara came up with the big defensive stop on an offensive night.
"We learned from the Barrington game and that's what's nice," said Bishoff, who also had his share of high-impact plays at linebacker. "We had been in that situation before and they hadn't. That's what helped us a little bit."
Three weeks ago Schaumburg was reveling in ending two-time defending 8A champion Maine South's 28-game winning streak. Now it was looking ahead to show it learned its lessons when it faces seven-time defending West champion Fremd next Friday.
"I thought our kids battled at times, but you can't pick your times to fight in a game like this against a team like this," Stilling said.
"It's a big reality check," Iannotti said. "We have a target on our back and there can be no sense of complacency or satisfaction with us. We have to play every game like its our last because we're going to get their best every single game."
So will Elk Grove in the East after making a big statement.
"It's great because everybody had doubts about us," Eliades said. "People said Schaumburg was going to destroy us and Shepard was going to run all over us, but we had to show everybody."
The Grens had learned their lessons well.
mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com