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Being a little different working out well for Mundelein

There's nothing wrong with being different.

In fact, the Mundelein football team believes it could be very successful being different from the pack. That's why the Mustangs revamped their offense this year under first-year coach Vince DeFrancesco.

They've started the season 2-2 and are coming off a big 29-14 win over Waukegan in Week 4.

"Everyone wants to run spread now," DeFrancesco said. "Everyone wants to be high-tempo, no huddle and Mundelein was that for awhile.

"But I just thought that in this conference (North Suburban), we needed to do something else to be successful. We're a little different from everyone else (with smaller numbers) and I don't think it made sense for us to do what everyone else is doing."

So DeFrancesco, a star running back at Vernon Hills in the mid-2000s, implemented a system that emphasizes running and ball control.

"We want to control the tempo, to keep our offense on the field and let our defense catch its breath," DeFrancesco said. "We want to go on long, 12-to-15-play scoring drives. We want to slow down the game and get into the fourth quarter with a chance to win the game.

"I also wanted an offense and a style that reflected our community and our kids, and this is a very hardworking and blue collar community. I think this offense fits that."

So far, DeFrancesco's players seem to agree.

They were impressed with the options in DeFrancesco's offense when he was teaching it to them in the summer.

"I know that the spread is really popular with kids, but our kids were really open to the new offense and they liked it right away," DeFrancesco said. "On the first day, our quarterback (senior Isaac Wellman) said to me, 'Coach, if this doesn't work, nothing else in the world will.' The kids were so impressed with all the fakes and misdirection in this offense."

The offense has given many opportunities to Wellman and running backs Shawn Patrick, Rudy Orsonio, Drake Morton and Joey Foreman and George Stevenson.

Missing Morton: Unfortunately, Mundelein's talented rushing nucleus was cut by one last week.

Drake Morton, who shared a spot in the starting backfield with Rudy Orsonio and was one of the team's top three rushers, suffered a season-ending leg injury against Waukegan. Morton broke his tibia and fibula when someone rolled on his ankle.

"We will really miss Drake because he's a senior and a leader and he was really doing a great job rotating in with Rudy," Mundelein coach Vince DeFrancesco said. "It's tough for Drake but he's in high spirits. He even went to homecoming the next day. He's a great character kid and he will still help our team (from the sideline). He's also a big baseball player, so we just hope we can get him healthy for baseball."

Next man up: When opportunity knocked, Omar Guzman answered the call last week against Waukegan.

The Mundelein senior, who started at outside linebacker for the Mustangs, started the game with a safety. Then, later in the game, when given the chance to carry the ball in a backup fullback role, Guzman scored a touchdown, and then even kicked the extra point.

He scored 9 of the Mustangs' 29 points and finished with 8 carries for 50 yards.

"It was a special game for him," Mundelein coach Vince DeFrancesco said. "He's been doing all the right things and then we he got his chance to go in (on offense), he stepped up and rose to the occasion. To have that moment was very special."

Step right in: It's been two straight wins for Stevenson with backup junior quarterback Liam Crawley at the controls.

Starting quarterback Justin Hiller suffered a shoulder injury two weeks ago against Libertyville and is out for the foreseeable future. Crawley stepped in and led the 2-2 Patriots to their first two wins of the season.

"Liam was ready to play," Stevenson coach Brent Becker said. "Anytime you have a senior quarterback like Justin go down it's tough because he brought a lot of leadership and he won that spot.

"But Liam has done a fantastic job for us. The playbook is open to Liam and we are excited for him to play his game. We're going to help him in any way we can to do that."

Becker describes Crawley as a confident kid, who already seems comfortable behind center. But he says that Crawley is also benefiting from Hiller's presence as a mentor.

"Justin is still coming in and helping out at practice, especially with Liam," Becker said of Hiller, who is out for a least a couple weeks. "Justin's been great and I think that's really helping (Crawley)."

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