Elk Grove wins back-and-forth game

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:14PM

Nick Meyer didn't have time for the pain Thursday night, at least while he was playing.

The Elk Grove senior piled up 374 yards of total offense and five touchdowns in sparking the No. 18 Grenadiers to a wild 36-34 win over No. 9 Schaumburg in a Mid-Suburban League crossover in Schaumburg.

Meyer was involved in 56 of the Grenadiers' plays on offense and most of them on defense as a safety. But all the effort paid off as the Grenadiers (3-1) handed the Saxons (3-1), top-ranked in Class 8A by The Associated Press, their first loss.

"I'm tired," Meyer said. "When I'm in the shower tonight, I'll probably be feeling the little bumps and bruises that I didn't know were there. On the field, adrenaline kicks in. ... I can't get over how much of a battle this was the whole game."

Meyer finished 22 of 33 passing for 233 yards and three touchdowns, and ran 24 times for 141 yards and two more scores. His counterpart, Schaumburg's Mark Iannotti, also had a huge game, going 14-for-18 for 197 yards and four TDs and running six times for 27 yards and another score.

Iannotti helped pick up the Saxons when star running back Shepard Little went down with a right hip injury in the second half that kept him off the field for all but three plays after halftime.

"If I would have stayed in, I would have let my team down," Little said.

Elk Grove also had a serious injury as Kyle Pass hurt his left knee when he was tackled at the end of a 91-yard return of a Little fumble midway through the second quarter.

"We have a really good team," said Pass, who also caught a TD pass from Meyer. "I have complete faith in them."

After falling behind on Iannotti's 15-yard TD pass to Kyle Lamberty, Elk Grove came back to lead 27-14 late in the second quarter. Meyer had a 59-yard TD run and scoring passes of 31 yards to Pass, 15 yards to Joey Bishoff and nine yards to Eddie Solorio.

Iannotti added a 30-yard TD run and a 56-yard scoring pass to Little to make it 27-21 at the half. His 13-yard scoring pass to Mike Mallett made it 28-27 Schaumburg with 9:30 left in the third quarter, but Matt Brandt's 25-yard field goal put Elk Grove up to stay.

Meyer had a 16-yard TD run with 6:53 left in the game, but Brandt missed the PAT. Iannotti's 40-yard scoring pass to Tim Schwarz pulled Schaumburg within 36-34, but Dejan Basara and John Eliades stopped Little's conversion run.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.