Led by Luke Harvey’s 203 yards, Rolling Meadows keeps rolling, beats Buffalo Grove in MSL East opener

BUFFALO GROVE – Visiting Rolling Meadows was hoping to keep its three-game winning streak going when the Mustangs faced Buffalo Grove in the Mid-Suburban East football opener for both squads Friday night.

And the Mustangs did just that as they built a 14-6 halftime lead before posting a 28-13 MSL East victory over the Bison (1-4, 0-1).

Rolling Meadows (4-1, 1-0) marched 80 yards on 11 plays as Jake Ganatos scored on a 1-yard run seven seconds into the second quarter. Rolling Meadows’ Luke Harvey (203 yards on 30 rushes) had 96 yards on 14 carries in the first quarter alone as the extra point by Anthony Polenzani made the score 7-0.

On their homecoming night, the Bison responded with a 14-play, 80-yard drive. Dylan Spedale (15-for-27, 153 yards) hit Matthew Kaput (26 yards on 6 carries) with a 15-yard pass before a 1-yard TD run by Jacob Hensley (20 yards on 11 attempts) cut the lead to 7-6 as the extra point failed.

The Mustangs went 40 yards on 6 plays. Quincy Johnson (7-for-14, 71 yards) rolled left and hit Sean Kerr with a 4-yard TD pass 48.2 seconds before halftime.

“Once we kind of settled down and started getting into our gaps we did a much better job defensively stopping the run, but we had to take some chances going for it on fourth down a few times and it just didn’t go our way tonight,” Buffalo Grove coach Jeff Vlk said.

“We were hoping to gain some momentum on that drive too. We would have had the first down and defensive touchdowns are game-changers and they made more plays than we did tonight.”

Vlk was referring to a fourth-and-1 play when Rolling Meadows’ Gunnar Woetzel stripped the ball from receiver Tyler Baker before Arman Lepuzanovic scooped up the fumble and raced 55 yards down the left sideline for the touchdown and a 21-6 lead with 10:30 to play.

Then Harvey went off left tackle for a 20-yard TD run and a 28-6 lead with 4:25 remaining.

“I couldn’t do it without the offensive line and tight ends with awesome blocking and that’s what we practice and executed,” Harvey said. “We wanted to wear them down and in the end they’ll be all tired and we’ll come out on top.”

Aided by a 41-yard pass from Spedale to Quin Rowan, Buffalo Grove cut the lead to 28-13 on a 2-yard TD run by Spedale and an extra point by Luiz Falcao with 1:46 left.

“Obviously we like to run the football. I think it’s a big part of how you can do a lot of different things on offense, and the kids did a great job up front,” Rolling Meadows coach Robbie Gould said. “Gunnar (Woetzel) comes up and makes a nice strip there on the ball. We talk about scooping and scoring, and if you can come out on the top of the turnover battle every week you’re going to have a really good chance to win football games.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20240927/prep-football/rolling-meadows-beats-buffalo-grove-in-msl-east-opener-for-4th-straight-win/