Fremd playoff eligible after routing Schaumburg
Fremd finished the 2017 season with a 1-8 record. The 2018 campaign started out at 0-3 and the outlook for a successful season was not very bright.
Yet the Iron Will character of the Vikings led them to 48-13 Mid-Suburban West win over Schaumburg Friday night and made them playoff eligible.
It also made the Vikings co-champs of the MSL West as Hoffman defeated Conant 29-27.
"There were a lot of doubters when we got off to the 0-3 start," said Fremd coach Lou Sponsel. "But the kids and coaches on this team never had any doubt of what we were capable of accomplishing."
The start could have been a disaster for Fremd. The Vikings fumbled the snap on the second play of the game at their own 22-yard line.
Schaumburg needed only five plays to go up 7-0 behind a Heze Trotter 6-yard run. Jonathan Mueller converted the point after.
Fremd tied the game on a 6-yard touchdown run by Ryan Saxe. Anthony Piasecki converted the point after.
And then the Chicago Bears Week 8 high school player of the week took over the game.
Senior Nick Rattin scored on runs of 29, 25, 12 and 74 yards - all in the second quarter. Piasecki converted all four tries.
Trotter returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown after the second Rattin score.
Rattin racked up 272 yards on 20 carries by halftime.
"The entire team knew what was on the line tonight and they weren't going to be denied," Sponsel said. "The offensive line of Brian Morel, Will Josten, Kyle Cullinan, Marlon Martinez, Ryan Gregory and Jack Walsh all did a tremendous job blocking tonight."
Schaumburg received the second half kickoff and quickly went three-and-out.
Fremd took over at its own 43-yard line and only needed five plays to cover the 57 yards. Rattin scored his fifth touchdown of the night on a 4-yard run.
Luke Bilek intercepted a pass on the Saxons next possession and the Vikings were set up at the Schaumburg 25-yard line.
Rattin scored on a 13-yard run for his sixth touchdown of the night.
The 6 touchdowns broke a 23-year old record of 5 touchdowns in a game set by Joe Chambers against Glenbard North in 1995.
Rattin's 309 yards rushing broke a 9-year record of 303 yards in a game set by Evan Wright against Lake Zurich in 2009.
In addition to his interception, Bilek finished the game with 12 tackles.