Oak Lawn continues to light up the scoreboard as conference play gets underway.
In the first three games this season, the Spartans have scored 166 points for an average of 55.3 per game.
On Sept. 4 at home against South Suburban Red rival Reavis, Oak Lawn piled up 600 total yards en route to a 48-14 victory.
“I think it starts up front,” Oak Lawn coach Ryan Pattison said. “Our offensive line really, really knows what they’re doing and they’re tough kids. They’ve got size behind them and they’re big, strong kids, too.
“Also, we have so many playmakers. Whether it’s (quarterback) Danny (Strelow) throwing the ball to a wide receiver or one of our two wings in Kamari (Polk) or (Jamari) Sisson running with the ball, and then you have to try and stop Jayden Schlosser up the middle. You have to pick what you want to stop and we’ve gotten pretty good at taking whatever the defense gives us and going from there.”
The 6-foot-1, 235-pound Schlosser finished with 19 carries for 214 yards and three TDs. He averaged 11.3 yards per carry while also catching one pass for 28 yards.
“Jayden had a game,” Pattison said. “He was carrying defenders for extra yards. Our offensive line played really well and when those second-and third-level defenders were making contact with Jayden, he was dragging them for 5 or 10 yards.
“And that stuff adds up over the course of a game and we wore them down.”
Strelow, a two-year starter for the Spartans (3-0, 1-0), finished with nine completions in 12 attempts for 229 yards and two TD passes. The junior connected with Sisson on a 76-yard TD toss while adding a 37-yard scoring strike to James Chorney.
Strelow also carried five times for 41 yards and two touchdowns on quarterback sneaks.
“Danny just has such a good grasp of our offense,” Pattison said. “Whether we’re running our triple-option stuff or throwing the ball or making checks where he needs to make them, he’s just another coach on the field at this point.
“We have so much trust in him to do what he needs to do and get us into the right calls and things like that.”
The Rams (2-1, 0-1) got on the scoreboard as quarterback Darden Nreci found Christian DelBosque for a 6-yard TD and Ahmad Everette returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.
“Our defense played well,” Pattison said. “(Reavis) didn’t score until the fourth quarter…Our defense played really, really well and I give a lot of credit to them, too.
“We had morning practices all week and we were cut short on time and things like that, but we had a really good week of practice. That just shows the maturity of the kids and what we’re trying to do here. That’s where a lot of the credit goes because of their preparation and being physical and playing Spartan football. Our kids didn’t back down. They wanted to hit and they wanted to go into that one and make a statement.”