Smith, Schaumburg rush past Hoffman Estates
If there was a comparable trophy in high school football to the highly-touted Heisman Trophy that so many dream of hoisting, Stacey Smith would be among the front runners.
Once again, Smith was the big man on campus Friday night, rushing for 158 yards and 3 touchdowns.
He also adding a 21-yard passing touchdown to Bryce Carlson en route to a 35-7 victory over visiting Hoffman Estates (2-5, 0-3).
The Saxons (7-0, 3-0) piled up 328 yards on the ground and 4 touchdowns between seven different rushers.
That proved to be the decisive factor.
Smith, who increased his area-leading rushing total to 1,187 yards with the performance, credits his teammates for his success this season.
“It’s not just me doing all the work,” he said. “It’s everybody, because we are family and get it done together.”
Teamwork was evident with Smith getting help from running backs Justice Macneal-Young, Ryan Tuma and Luke Gruszka, who combined for 134 yards and a touchdown.
The Saxons are off to their best start in their nine years under coach Mark Stilling.
They will look to improve to 8-0 next week when they visit Fremd.
“We have been mature about getting better every week and making our next game our best game,” Stilling said.
The Hawks drove 57 yards in the first quarter to the Saxons 8-yard line before a fumble their squashed their chance of striking first.
That turnover proved costly.
The Saxons came back with a 92-yard drive in just over five minutes to take a 7-0 lead in the second quarter on a 26-yard TD run by Smith.
“We are still not capitalizing on the opportunities that we do have early in the game,” Hoffman Estates coach Mike Donatucci said of his team’s fumble on the 8-yard line. “We did a lot of good things tonight and I was proud of those good things that we did, but it’s a growing process.”
The Hawks were led by sophomore quarterback Dante Cleveland, who had 15 carries for 79 yards on the ground, including a 2-yard touchdown run.
Kabrian Johnson also added 37 yards rushing and 26 yards receiving for the Hawks.
Cleveland’s touchdown came with 3:02 left in the game as the Saxons’ defense shut the Hawks out for the first 45 minutes of the game.
The tough defense of the Saxons was led by a combined effort from seniors Michael Fan, Ryan Woloszyk and Blake Wittkamp.