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Schmidt's big night leads Rolling Meadows past Elk Grove

After starting off the abbreviated 2021 football season with 0-2 records, both host Rolling Meadows and Elk Grove wanted to get in the win column Thursday night in Mid-Suburban League East action.

And with a powerful running attack leading the way, the host Mustangs stormed out to a 21-0 halftime lead over the Grenadiers before taking a commanding 36-0 lead into the fourth quarter.

From there, Rolling Meadows cruised to a 43-13 victory, as Elk Grove scored 13 points in the final 5:50 of the contest.

Senior running back Charlie Schmidt (121 yards on 13 carries) was a huge factor from start to finish for the Mustangs (1-2) as his two short touchdown runs in the first quarter staked Rolling Meadows (0-3) to a 14-0 lead.

"The offensive line was making huge holes and making my job as easy as it could possibly be," said Schmidt, who had 70 yards rushing in the second half alone. "The last two weeks were sort of a let down for our team, and I would say we just out-physicaled them."

Rolling Meadows' Daniel Sobkowicz came up with a huge interception off Elk Grove quarterback Joe Gaskill late in the first half as Sobkowicz took the ball from the Grenadiers' 35-yard-line down to the 12-yard-line.

Three plays later, Rolling Meadows quarterback Michael Radon hit Sobkowicz with a 9-yard touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone before Lucas Greazel's extra point boosted the lead to 21-0 with 15 seconds left in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, a bad snap over Gaskill's head went out of the end zone and resulted in a safety and a 23-0 Mustangs lead.

Then an 8-yard touchdown pass from Radon to Sobkowicz near the right pylon boosted the lead to 29-0 before teammate Noah Wilson (63 yards on 15 rushes) scored on a 1-yard TD run for a 36-0 lead.

"We played a really good game on all phases of the ball, we started practicing better, and I felt like we started getting our groove," Rolling Meadows coach Sam Baker said. "We have a huge, monumental task against Prospect coming up, so it was nice to get our first win under our belts."

A 37-yard touchdown run by Schmidt made the score 43-0 before Elk Grove's Michael Myrdacz broke off a 75-yard run before scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run to break up the shutout.

Elk Grove's Keshawn Bates caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from Gaskill to account for the final score. Ian Ridge ran for 48 yards on 15 attempts while Radon had 48 yards on 10 carries for the Grens.

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