New faces ready to keep rivalry relevant
Prospect and Rolling Meadows was not a football rivalry that made much of an impact beyond the walls of the two schools in the mid-1990s.
The programs were down. They were fighting to stay out of the bottom of their division in the Mid-Suburban League.
Then it all turned just before the turn of the century and it became one of the best, and at times one of the feistiest, battles around. They were contending for Mid-Suburban East supremacy and postseason success with a high interest rate.
Now there is another big twist at the top of the two programs. Both were under new leadership as high school football practice officially started across the state Wednesday.
Now in charge at Prospect is Mike Sebestyen, who was an assistant for the last 12 years with Brent Pearlman. Running the show at Meadows is Matt Mishler, who just joined the program last year as an assistant to Doug Millsaps but is quite familiar with the MSL as an assistant at Wheeling and a quarterback at Hoffman Estates.
Sebestyen joked about one of the last-minute chores he had to tend to as he headed home Tuesday afternoon.
“The lawn has to be cut before the season starts,” he said with a laugh. “We’re ready to get going.
“Of course, it’s the same feeling I had last year (as an assistant), that we’re not going to get everything in in time. But we will and we’ll find a way. It’s the same feeling I’ve had every year.”
The difference is the additional duties that go with the top coaching billing.
“Every day I learn something new, but I have a lot of people to lean on,” Mishler said. “Early on in the spring I was figuring out what needs to be done when and all the administrative stuff.
“That’s probably the hardest part. Once I got to football it was a nice little reprieve from all the other stuff.”
Mishler did some staff shuffling by promoting Scott Otahal to defensive coordinator and bringing in Steve Kolodziej from Buffalo Grove to run the offense and Jeremy Harkin from Hoffman to handle defensive backs. Mishler is also glad Jim Rucks, who was Hoffman Estates’ head coach for 26 years, returned to coach the offensive line.
“I lean on him a lot, especially if there is anything I need to bring up or talk about at the end of practice,” Mishler said of his former coach. “He’s really good at all of that stuff with all of his experience. That’s been huge for me.”
Staff stability, besides what Sebestyen called “one big change, obviously,” has helped his transition.
“They’re all guys who are a part of what we’ve done before,” Sebestyen said. “It made it easier in the off-season to focus on what needed to be done.”
Which right now is preparing for the challenges that start in a little more than two weeks. Prospect has a tough opener at Glenbrook South and will be trying to defend its MSL East title with a lot of unfamiliar faces and a roster of just around 35 players.
“If you have a classroom of 30 kids, about 10 or 15 can stand out and 10 or 15 can hide,” Sebestyen said. “In a classroom of 12 everyone has to show up.
“If you have 70 players, some kids can hide, but if you have 35, everyone has to be there. If they aren’t, it’s going to show up.”
A numbers drop-off showed up last year during a tough season at Meadows where the third-longest streak of playoff appearances in MSL history ended at seven.
But Mishler said the numbers are back up around 50 after low numbers forced the cancellation of last year’s sophomore schedule after two games. The Mustangs have some experienced talent ready to prove their playoff absence was an aberration.
“The overriding theme is to get back to where we were,” said Mishler, whose team has a tough home opener with York. “I know for a fact the kids are really excited about what we’ve got going on and what we’re doing.
“That’s half the battle. They’re confident and everybody fully expects to return to form here this year.”
If that happens, then it would figure to be more of the same when the rivalry is renewed in Week 8 at Prospect. Just with two new faces in higher places.
mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com