There may be quarterbacks who throw farther or run faster than Oak Lawn’s Danny Strelow.
But when it comes down to delivering when his team absolutely needs him the most, the junior is near the top of the list.
In guiding Oak Lawn to an exciting 21-14 road victory over Evergreen Park on Sept. 25, Strelow carried 19 times for 162 yards.
The two-year starter’s 3-yard TD run on an option keeper in overtime proved to be the game-winner. He also contributed a 25-yard scoring carry earlier in the game.
“Dan is just so good with running our option and knowing when to pull (the football) and when to give,” Oak Lawn coach Ryan Pattison said. “And he’s tougher than people give him credit for. He runs hard.
“He picks up tough yards for a kid that maybe doesn’t look as big. That’s definitely his strength is just being smart and knowing when to pull and when to give in the option game. And when he does pull it, he’s dangerous. He might not house the ball all the time, but he’s picking up for us 6 or 7 yards. He’s putting his shoulder down and picking up tough yards for us.”
Leading 21-14 in overtime, the Spartans (6-0, 4-0 South Suburban Red) ended the game when cornerback James Chorney made an interception. Jayden Schlosser (18 carries, 111 yards) scored on a 7-yard run and also provided the ensuing 2-point conversion run with 8:03 remaining in the game for Oak Lawn, which committed four turnovers to just one for the Mustangs (4-2, 2-2).
“We’re lucky to come away with that one,” Pattison said. “I thought EP played really well. They’re a well-coached team and they have a good defense. To fumble four times and lose the turnover battle 4-1 and still pull out a win — I’ll steal from coach (Jason) Rhodes, who’s our basketball coach, and say that it’s better to win and learn than lose and learn.
“We’re going to have win and learn from this one and know that we can’t put the ball on the turf like we did.”
Evergreen Park had a 40-yard TD catch from Tyler Phelps (three receptions, 54 yards) on a pass from Brady Bruen while Cory Isaac scored on a 10-yard run. Jaylen Chothen chipped in four receptions for 57 yards.
“This was a hard-fought game on both sides and a very physical game,” Mustangs coach Jim Ramazinski said. “Both teams played really tough. We took it to overtime, but they scored first and we weren’t able to match it.”
Defensively, the Mustangs featured Landon Robinson-Gwin (10 tackles, fumble recovery), Gavin Wheeler (fumble recovery), Esau Ruvalcaba (12 tackles, fumble recovery), Cadyn Kummer (forced fumble) and Garret Kazmierowicz (9 tackles, TFL).
“We knew that it was going to be an extremely physical game, which it was, and Oak Lawn has been putting up a lot of points throughout the season,” Ramazinski said. “I thought we matched their physicality, but we just came up short in the end.”