What a crazy weekend

People often believe we care more about one school or team over another. Most of us are primarily concerned with reasonably quick games (especially on Friday nights) and something interesting or something with drama.
This weekend certainly fit that bill in two much different ways.
First was Rolling Meadows at Wheeling in a matchup of last year's Mid-Suburban East co-champions. Meadows seemed to be in control with a 13-0 lead late in the third quarter.
In the past it would have been over for Wheeling. But then the game took crazy twists and turns started by some big plays by Mike Barton. The Wildcats appeared to squander a phenomenal opportunity when it lost a fumble inside the Meadows' 5 with less than five minutes left.
Then Tony Brzezniak and Mike Zimmer made a big play to recover a fumble in the end zone and Wheeling pulled out a 14-13 victory. Now Meadows, which also has suffered heartbreaking losses to Barrington in OT and Fremd in the last six minutes, has to rebound next week against Prospect. Might actually be a perfect time for the Mustangs to have their rivalry game to get an emotional boost after two tough losses.
Saturday afternoon games - especially when the weather is still fairly warm - don't usually have a real buzz to them. And it was pretty flat as Fremd seemed to be on its way to flattening Schaumburg with a 28-7 lead.
And then the Saxons got their high-powered attack going with QB Anthony Iannotti, WR Josh Spandiary and RB Shepard Little. The momentum changed and Conant's Feutz Field was rocking when Schaumburg took the lead with 36.5 seconds left.
Fremd was stunned but not done as it came back and finished the fantastic drama on Brett Opitz's last-second field goal.
And it must be something about Feutz Field that has turned into an offensive showplace. Prospect and the Saxons combined for 87 points last week and Conant QB Sean Smith led a 40-34 upset win Friday night over Palatine.
While Barrington appears right now as if it might have a slight edge as the MSL's top team, the league is as balanced as I've seen it in 16 years. No dominant team but no pushover either, as Hersey and QB Steve Nelson are showing and got the payoff by ending their 15-game losing streak Friday. And some of the scores and yardage totals are staggering.
Buckle up because the rest of conference play looks to be pretty crazy.