Mundelein blanks Grayslake Central
With a 7-0 lead late in the fourth quarter, host Mundelein was looking for a little breathing room Friday night against Grayslake Central in a nonconference football battle.
And with 10 points in less than the final 5:05 of the contest the Mustangs got just that as they pulled away from the Rams for a 17-0 victory in a game with a lot of offense, but not very much scoring until the end.
Mundelein (1-1) took a 7-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter when junior quarterback Isaac Wellman (12-for-30, 105 yards passing) hit Eli Daugs with a 4-yard TD pass before teammate Alex Wing booted the extra point.
With senior quarterback Ben Vogeler probably out for the season with an ACL/MCL injury, Grayslake Central (0-2) turned to senior Nick Paul under center as Paul also saw a lot of action at quarterback last season as a junior.
Paul did a good job overall through the air with 163 yard passing by hitting 15 of his 33 attempts.
But Mundelein was able to intercept Paul (7 yards on 14 carries) three times while also recovering a crucial fumble by the Rams deep in their own territory to set up a game-clinching touchdown.
Once again Wellman hit Daugs for the TD, this time with an 18-yard scoring strike over the middle before Wing's extra point made the score 14-0 with 5:05 to play.
"On offense we needed a little luck, but there is a lot of room for improvement and Mundelein played a great game," said Grayslake Central coach Jason Schaal, whose team was held to only 16 yards rushing overall. "Last week (against Vernon Hills) we were able to move the ball on the ground, and we have to put a full four quarters together."
An interception by Jack Dorfler with 4:14 remaining really put any chance of a comeback away for the Rams as Mundelein took over at the Grayslake Central 36-yard-line.
Seven plays later, Wing booted a 30-yard field goal with 1:45 to play to account for the final score.
The Mustangs' ground attack was outstanding led by sophomore running back Shawn Patrick (89 yards on 13 carries), and Dorfler (45 yards on 9 rushes) kept the Rams defense at bay.
"The team worked well today, the offensive line did a great job blocking, and the defense was tremendous getting a shutout," said Patrick. "The offense just did great, and I'm excited for the rest of the season."
Mundelein coach Larry Calhoun is very optimistic about his young squad after seeing the offense and defense both play well.
"Our defense I thought just played outstanding, we had some offensive miscues in the first half, but all that said we took some great strides this week," Calhoun said. "We have some young guys, he (Patrick) had 34 touchdowns last year playing quarterback as a freshman so we knew he was something special. He does some things you cannot teach, and I thought our quarterback (Wellman) played well with two touchdown passes."