Rothstein has his marching orders

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LEMONT -- At first, Trevor Rothstein thought that he was just going to play football at the United States Military Academy.

But when the Lemont High School senior finally got to witness the pageantry of West Point, he realized that football was a small part of the deal.

However, that in no way has diminished his interest in pursuing the rare opportunity of competing for Army on Saturday afternoons at historic Michie Stadium.

Rothstein becomes the latest talented lineman from coach Eric Michaelsen's successful program to get the opportunity to compete at the Division I level.

As a result of his signing, Rothstein joins recent graduates Graham Pocic (University of Illinois) and David Molk (University of Michigan) in that elite class.

Decked out in a black suit with a yellow Army tie, Rothstein made his choice official on Wednesday in a school ceremony that also involved soccer player Shelley Hadlock.

Rothstein, a 6-foot-1, 270-pound three-year starter, earned all-state honors and achieved the rare feat of being named as the South Suburban Blue's Offensive Player of the Year.

He led an offensive line that helped Lemont average more than 250 rushing yards per game, paced by Danny Hayes' school-record 1,886 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns.

Rothstein played a key role in helping the Indians to a 13-1 record this season and an 11-3 mark last year as they advanced to consecutive state title games.

"I feel blessed to have this great opportunity," Rothstein said.

"At first I thought it was just about football, but as I get farther in the process and as I talk to more people who've been there, I'm really looking forward to the military and that commitment.

"It's more of an overall picture for me now and it's just great to see all of the tradition, respect and honor that goes on there. I was amazed because their facilities were the best that I've seen. But I was more impressed by how perfect the cadets acted.

"The past few years have been awesome, the best experience of my life so far. Being with these coaches who pushed my friends and I to work hard helped us. That showed us what we need to do to get to the top and I think I'll bring that along to West Point."

Hadlock, another three-year standout for the Indians, also has done much to help her program reach the next level and she hasn't started her senior season.

But the forward will have some of the pressure off of her now that she has decided to continue her academic work and athletic career at Lewis University.

The member of the Chicago Blast Soccer Club looks forward to joining coach Chris Koenig's program as he continues to work toward improving the Flyers.

Hadlock figures to be a nice addition for Lewis, considering what she has accomplished for coach Rick Prangen's program during the past three seasons.

A two-time offensive MVP, she led Lemont in scoring the past two years to help her program to back-to-back conference titles and a 45-7-1 overall mark.

She scored a team-high 24 goals with 10 assists last year to help Lemont win its first sectional title. Hadlock has 49 goals and 126 points in her career.

"I'm really excited about this because Lewis plays Division II soccer," Hadlock said.

"The coach is still new and he's trying to rebuild the program so this is a good time to jump into the program.

"Coach Prangen has taught me a lot of things that I didn't know and that's helped. This year's going to be fun since I'm a senior and we're a lot older team than we have been, so we should be good."