Lacosse, Rolling Meadows rumble past Wheeling

Before he reached his final year at South Middle School in Arlington Heights, Kevin Lacosse was an offensive lineman in youth football.

"When I was younger, I was a little chubbier," said the Rolling Meadows' 5-foot-11 165-pound junior. "By the time I was in eighth grade, I slimmed down a little and I was moved to a running back."

Instead of blocking, he has been running ever since.

Lacosse enjoyed the finest game of his young varsity career on Friday when he rushed for 239 yards on 29 carries to help the Mustangs to a 67-34 victory over visiting Wheeling in the Mid-Suburban East opener.

Lacosse did not forget about his former position.

"The offensive line did a great job," he said referring to Andrew Neville, David Murphy, Thomas Larson, Grant Palmer and Jake Maloney. "And the offensive line continues to get better every week. I thought we were pretty hard on them the first weeks and they have absolutely responded."

The Mustangs were able to respond each time with a touchdown following three fumble recoveries in the first 15 minutes of the game.

Maciej Pogorzelski, Theodore Golaris and Luka Pavlakis all recovered loose balls in the Wildcats' territory that led to touchdowns.

"That was nice to get some turnovers and get the ball back to our offense," said Meqadows coach Matt Mishler, whose offense rushed for 424 yards after accumulating 400 yards of total offense last week against Hoffman Estates.

Junior quarterback Asher O'Hara threw for 134 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Mustangs (3-2, 1-0) were able to put up 67 points in less than three quarters despite committing 10 penalties which cost them nearly 100 yards.

Wheeling (0-5, 0-1) was also slowed down by mistakes, committing 12 penalties for 111 yards.

A holding penalty on the first possession of the game forced Wheeling to punt.

A quick kick by quarterback Jalen Dennis (3 TD passes for 229 yards and 1 rushing TD) was a gem, landing at the Meadows' 9-yard line.

But the tone for the high-scoring contest was quickly set when Lacosse took off up the middle three plays later and got past the Wildcats' backfield for an 87-yard TD less than three minutes into the game.

A 2-yard run by Devonte Amos (88 yards) and a 9-yard TD pass from O'Hara to Michael Dellorto provided the hosts a 20-0 lead late in the first quarter.

Wheeling got on the board with a 48-yard TD strike from Dennis to Dylan Draka to make it 20-7.

But Meadows answered with a 10-yard TD run by Nicolas Delporte and a 1-yard TD run by Lacosse for a 40-7 cushion with 5:36 left in the first half.

Meadows next two scores were TD passes from O'Hara to Blake Holfeld of 6 and 5 yards. The Mustangs final TD came on a 1-yard run by Delporte and a 6-yard TD pass from O'Hara to Dellorto.

Junior Jason Shannon became a prominent factor in n the Wildcats' attack as he caught a 62 -yard TD pass from Dennis late in the first half and then returned a kickoff 92 yards late in the third quarter.

Dennis' third TD pass was a 25-yard strike to Nick Schaller for the only touchdown in the fourth quarter.

By then, Lacosse and Mustangs were in full command.

"It was insane," Lacosse said of all his rushing yardage. "It was a hard game. Wheeling played hard. We always come into a game think we have to play hard no matter the opponent, and we got the job done."

Lacosse also got the job done last week when he rushed for 195 yards against Hoffman Estates.

"I was hoping I'd be able to do this but I didn't know if it would happen," Lacosse said. "It's great. I'm loving every minute of it."

"He has been running as hard as he can," Mishler said of Lacosse. "Wheeling played really hard. We saw that on film and they showed it this game."