Rolling Meadows cruises past Wheeling to set up showdown with Hersey
Rolling Meadows continued to impress on Friday night against visiting Wheeling.
The Mustangs jumped out to an early 21-0 first quarter lead and did not look back in cruising to 63-14 Mid-Suburban League East victory at Robert H. Hoese Field.
Rolling Meadows (8-0, 4-0) kept its record perfect and will face Hersey next week with the MSL East title on the line. Hersey (8-0, 4-0) downed Elk Grove 56-21 Friday night.
"Our focus this week was just to get better on the things we needed to get better with," said Rolling Meadows coach Matt Mishler. "Our guys practiced hard this week and they didn't look ahead. They came out and executed really well."
Senior Jordan Wiles gave the Mustangs a huge lift early, scoring on a 54-yard run and also a 65-yard run in the first quarter.
"Coach wanted us to come out with a run mentality and we got things done," said Wiles, who rushed for 119 yards. " We have a lot of players that like to get in and get things done."
Senior quarterback Carson Schiller found junior Daniel Sobkowicz for a 5-yard score between Wiles' two big runs to give the Mustangs a commanding 21-0 first quarter advantage.
"We wanted to focus on a quick start and we wanted to take it one game at a time," said Schiller (9-for-11, 104 yards) of the Mustangs' early explosion. "We just want to have fun and enjoy it."
Rolling Meadows kept Wheeling (0-8, 0-4) on its heels in the second quarter, adding 3 touchdowns.
Junior Charlie Schmidt (6 rushes for 37 yards) added a pair of touchdowns on a 1-yard run and a 10-yard run, while junior Noah Wilson (7 rushes for 45 yards) added 1-yard scoring run helping the Mustangs to a 42-0 halftime advantage.
"I was very happy with the offense today, the line was outstanding," said Schiller. "They were creating big holes for the running backs."
The defense did its part by limiting Wheeling to 54 total yards in the first half and having 3 sacks and an interception.
"We had to be disciplined and sound against their offense," said Mishler. "Wheeling does a really good job on offense. They did what they needed to do. They took care of business."
Rolling Meadow did not let up in the second half as Aidan Schmidt added a 65-yard scoring run and Mikael Dukes ran for a 63-yard touchdown. John Gianas concluded the scoring with a 39-yard touchdown.
Wheeling junior Paul Ufir rushed for 90 yards on 19 carries and added a 4-yard scoring run, and Isaiah Romano ran for a 39-yard touchdown, both in the fourth quarter.