Highland Park's big play too much for Mundelein

Mundelein made some big plays Friday night.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, too many of them benefited visiting Highland Park.

Mundelein senior Robert Hamilton dazzled the crowd with two highlight reel plays, a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a 71-yard run from scrimmage for a touchdown.

But the Mustangs were also showy with their turnovers. They had some doozies, such as a fumble that bounced into the hands of Tommy Rudman on the second play of the game. Rudman then sprinted 50 yards for a touchdown.

That was one of 3 Mundelein turnovers that led directly to scores in Highland Park's 38-21 nonconference victory. Overall, Mundelein had 5 turnovers on the night.

Highland Park moves to 2-0 while the Mustangs drop to 0-2.

"Turnovers are a big deal for us. They were last week, too," Hamilton said. "We really need to keep the ball in our hands. We didn't take care of the ball, and there was confusion between guys."

Hamilton, who returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the second week in a row, certainly wasn't confused about what he thinks led to Mundelein's struggles against Highland Park.

"We could have come out harder if we had a more productive week of practice. Everyone was just nonchalant and not intense and not practicing the way we need to. That translates to the field and this is what happens.

"Everyone just needs to pick it up."

Cole Greenberg certainly picked up his game.

The Highland Park senior running back carried an extra heavy load since his backfield mate, sophomore running back DJ Penick was out for the game. Greenberg rolled up 23 carries for 99 yards. He ran in 2 touchdowns and threw for another, a 75-yarder out of the halfback option.

His second rushing touchdown, a 6-yard run with 9:48 left in the fourth quarter, extended Highland Park's lead to 31-14 and put the game out of reach.

The final touchdown of the game was Greenberg hitting a wide-open Jack McGuire with the halfback option pass.

"That's a fun thing we do in practice and we always joke about doing that in the game," said Greenberg, who last threw for a touchdown in sixth grade. "When (the coaches) called that, I just knew (McGuire) was going to be wide open. I just had to show my Johnny Manziel.

"We started this game wanting to be run-heavy but (Mundelein) started doing a really good job against that, so we told our quarterback that he was going to need to step up and Sam (Nevers) did a really great job doing that."

After a slow start, Nevers completed 11-of-25 passes for 145 yards. He also ran in a 2-yard run.

"Our defense held us in the game until we finally got going. But we did get going," Highland Park coach Hal Chiodo said. "Once (Nevers) completed a few passes, he got a lot more confidence in himself and you could see a little more zip on the ball."

While Highland Park had a nice balance between passing and rushing yards, Mundelein did most of its damage on the ground.

Hamilton finished with 92 yards on 9 carries while Jake Gokan had 48 yards on 8 carries and quarterback Colten Fisher had 45 yards on 11 carries.

"I thought we were the better team and we were more physical," Mundelein coach George Kaider said. "But we had a horrible week of practice. We were undisciplined and unfocused at practice and there wasn't a commitment to getting better this week. I don't have an explanation for it, but that's two weeks in a row now."