Meadows survives Prospect's rally for 42-24 win

Rolling Meadows' football team overcame some big-time adversity Thursday night at Prospect.

The Knights hit the Mustangs with a one-two punch of a fumble return for a touchdown and a flea-flicker TD pass in the third quarter to take a 24-21 lead.

But Meadows responded with 21 unanswered points to win 42-24 in the Mid-Suburban East.

Junior Jace O'Hara had a clutch interception for the Mustangs while classmate Justin Kretz, a wide receiver, caught 6 passes for 130 yards.

"We rallied together tonight," Kretz said. "We used each other's energy and we came out ready to fight."

Meadows led 14-10 at halftime on the strength of a 46-yard touchdown run by Jared Axelrad and a 1-yard sweep by Willis Goodwin.

Prospect countered with an 85-yard kickoff return for a TD by Anthony Burkhardt and a 34-yard field goal from Anthony Santangelo.

Then came the Knights' third-quarter quarter surge.

After Meadows scored early on a 2-yard run by Tim Szylak, Prospect's Michael Shafis scooped up a Mustangs fumble from his linebacker position and ran 76 yards for a score.

Then a beautifully designed flea-flicker play by the Knights resulted in a 51-yard TD strike from Jimmy Martin to Matt Neal and a 24-21 Knights lead.

"We knew (at that point) we had to keep fighting," said Meadows senior lineman Andrew Neville. "Our coaches stressed that all week."

First, Meadows grabbed the lead back when Goodwin had a 2-yard third-quarter touchdown run.

Then in the fourth quarter, Neville recovered a fumble at the Prospect 15 and Szylak scored from 5 yards out two plays later.

Kretz closed out the scoring with a breathtaking 85-yard touchdown reception on a bomb down the sideline from quarterback Arek Kleniuk (264 passing yards).

Martin led the Knights in rushing with 44 hard-earned yards while Axelrad led Meadows on the ground with 16 carries for 88 yards.

"I learned a lot about our team tonight after they got down," said Meadows coach Matt Mishler. "We knew we were going to get the best effort from Prospect and they played extremely hard. After that reverse pass (the Prospect flea-flicker touchdown), our guys came out and really turned it on."