Danny Strelow was in the sixth grade at Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle School when he first met Kamari Polk.
Polk and his older brother, Karmoni, moved into the district and Strelow was interested in making new friends. They’ve been friends ever since.
“We just kind of clicked from there,” Strelow said. “We became best friends.”
Now the two are juniors and a dynamic offensive tandem for Oak Lawn.
Strelow and Polk connected on a 54-yard touchdown 12 seconds into the fourth quarter of a 49-24 South Suburban Red road win over the Astros on Sept. 18.
“He’s always been my quarterback. He’s always going to be my quarterback,” Polk said. “He’s a great guy and a great player. He just knows how to make a play.”
“He’s just gotten a really good grasp on when he needs to pull the ball, when he needs to give it,” Oak Lawn coach Ryan Pattison said of Strelow. “And he’s making the right read more than the majority of the time. So when that’s happening, you know, good things are happening for us.”
Strelow completed 2 of 3 passes for 75 yards and a touchdown and rushed nine times for 71 yards and a touchdown for the Spartans (5-0, 3-0).
Polk finished with three carries for 82 yards and a touchdown and caught another TD.
Junior running back Jayden Schlosser also had a big game for Oak Lawn, rushing 20 times for 163 yards and four touchdowns. That pushed his total TDs to 14 (13 rushing).
Junior defensive back Chase Bekavac had an interception in the win.
Strelow and Kamari Polk are are former Oak Lawn Outlaws. But they didn’t play together until becoming Spartans, a tenure which started off strong.
“Their freshman year they kind of had a special connection, both being leaders of that team and winning the conference — even though it’s not recognized in our conference, they were the conference champions of the freshman teams that played,” Pattison said.
Quarterback Ashton Hite completed 18 of 31 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns for Shepard (2-3, 1-2). He also made one of two field-goal attempts.
All of Hite’s TD passes went to Brendin Thomas, who had nine catches for 96 yards.
“Our offense seems to be getting better every week,” Shepard coach John Rone said. “But football is a team game and, you know, turnovers on the offense mixed with giving up a lot of yards on the ground usually does not equal victory.”
Strelow and Polk have played basketball together as well and shared classes over the years. But it’s their trips to Premo’s Drive In in Oak Lawn for ice cream that they enjoy most.
“I’m a vanilla guy and he’s also a vanilla guy,” Strelow said. “We just click, like no matter what happens, we’re always together. We’re always having a great time.”
One thing that would not be considered vanilla is Oak Lawn’s explosive offense, which is averaging 55.4 points this season.
“We want to win conference,” Strelow said. “And with this group of guys, I have all the faith in the world.”