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Szylak, Meadows light it up vs. Vernon Hills

A dazzling new star suddenly appeared in the suburban high school football galaxy on Friday night.

His name is Tim Szylak and he scored his first 4 touchdowns as a varsity player on runs of 84, 15, 34 and 7 yards in leading Rolling Meadows to a compelling 52-30 conquest at Vernon Hills.

"This is all I could have hoped for," said the 5-11, 180-pound junior running back. "My offensive line came out and blocked for me and the holes were there for me to go through."

The powerful offensive performance by the Mustangs (2-1) came a week after they struggled offensively in defeating Fremd 10-0.

"We did not like the way we had been running the football," coach Matt Mishler said. "We challenged them to do better. The five guys up front did one heck of a job tonight. We have three running backs we really like and tonight Timmy played really well."

The other touchdowns for the Mid-Suburban League East dynasty came on a 4-yard run by junior quarterback Arek Kleniuk, a 54-yard pass from Kleniuk to junior slotback Charlie Svoboda and a 35-yard punt return by senior Willis Goodwin.

The game wasn't as close as the score suggested. Rolling Meadows went into the fourth quarter propped on a 52-14 cushion. Mishler gave Szylak and Kleniuk and several other first stringers the rest of the night off and put the passing game in the closet.

Junior quarterback Derek Jarrell was had a hand in all four touchdowns for the Cougars (1-2). He connected with senior Jack Himel on passes of 3, 25 and 5 yards for the first three and threw a 7-yarder to senior Luke Perlin for the fourth.

Coach Bill Bellecomo put a positive spin on the second straight lopsided loss for the 2016 Class 5A runners-up from the Central Suburban League North who were routed by Zion-Benton 49-0 the week before.

"That's a heck of a football team we played tonight," he told his players afterward. "We improved on a lot of things that will help us in the long run. We competed all the way through. There's no reason to leave here with your heads down."

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