Maine S. makes a believer of Schaumburg
Maine South isn't No. 5 in the Associated Press preseason Class 8A football polls for nothing.
The Hawks can pile it on you, hit you like lightning and run by you before you ever even notice they're gone.
Yet, save for a few missed tackles, a few mental mistakes and a flat start, Schaumburg might have found a way Saturday to stay with the highly touted Hawks in the nonconference, season opener for both teams Saturday afternoon in Park Ridge.
"I didn't think we came out ready to play," said Schaumburg quarterback Cody Logsdon after the 48-22 Maine South win. "People were making mental mistakes, including me. If we had eliminated those mistakes, we could've stayed with them."
Actually, the Saxons did stay with them in the second half, controlling the ball, running more plays and challenging the Hawks' defense. Except it was 27-7 at halftime and over for all practical purposes.
On offense, the mistakes led to frequent three-and-outs. On defense, there were too many missed tackles in critical situations that allowed Maine South players to stay alive for big gainers. They included quarterback Charlie Goro's weaving 30-yard TD scamper to open the scoring. And the Saxons just missed him again as he kept the next possession alive with a 9-yard scramble to set up another short TD run. It was 20-0 in the second quarter before the Saxons knew what had hit them.
"After what we did this summer (workouts, passing leagues), we knew our 'stuff' was going to be there," said Goro, after passing for 210 yards and running for 62 more.
When the Hawks weren't grinding it out behind the line, they were hitting for big plays. Goro had a 45-yard TD pass to Joey Orlando and a 70-yarder to Danny Benson, his two outside speedsters. Orlando added a perfectly executed 52-yard punt return for a TD as well.
"We were ready to compete," said Mark Stilling, Schaumburg's third-year coach. He liked a lot of what he saw from his team, especially from Logsdon and Mick Trimarco, his running back who had an 8-yard sprint for a TD, and reserves Anthony Ianotti and Matt Kiszkowski, who tossed and caught, respectively, a nicely executed 33-yard TD play in the fourth quarter.
With another state hopeful, Rolling Meadows, on the docket for next week, Stilling knows his club has to improve rapidly.
"That's not the competitiveness we need," Stilling said of Saturday's effort.