Cary-Grove upsets Lake Zurich
Not that the Cary Grove defense needed any additional motivation in its nonconference road contest at Lake Zurich Friday night but it got some anyway courtesy of the Trojans’ offense.
On Cary-Grove’s first offensive possession, the visitors took the ball and marched 52-yards through a tough Lake Zurich defense to take a 7-0 lead. From there, Cary-Grove junior Zach Marszal and the Trojan defense took over.
“That was real big for us against a team like Lake Zurich,” Marszal said. “We feel like if we get any kind of lead that we can go out and hold the other team.”
Cary-Grove held No. 2 Lake Zurich until the final minutes of the contest then held off a furious Bears rally to upend the 2010 Class 7A runners-up 10-7 at Mel Eide Field in Lake Zurich.
“It really started up front with our defensive line,” Marszal said. “They were getting good pressure on their quarterback and it allowed us time in the secondary to get to our spots.”
Marszal was on the spot twice, much like he was in the Trojans’ Week 1 win at St. Charles East. His 2 interceptions, both coming deep in Trojans territory, halted Lake Zurich drives.
“We have a lot of guys back in the secondary with experience,” said first-year Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg. “Last year I think we were a little slower to react in certain situations, this year we are in the right spots all to make a play on the ball.”
The touchdown drive that got it all started for Cary-Grove (2-0) consumed over four minutes off the clock. Senior John Pearl’s only carry of the night went for 21 yards and a 7-0 Trojan cushion. From there, the Trojans’ defense stepped up while the Lake Zurich defense tightened up.
“(Cary-Grove) came out ready to play tonight,” Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz said. “We didn’t come out and play a full 48-minute game. Our defense was good for about 40 minutes and they only gave up 10 points, but we have to be able to score more than 10 points.”
A week after the Bears ran off 35 points at Fremd, the Bears were only able to muster up 150 yards in total offense. Most of it came on the lone scoring drive of the night. The Bears moved the ball 67 yards in 9 plays using barely a minute to get into the end zone. Senior Steve Kuhn, who made his second start in place of injured senior Zach Till, tossed a 5-yard scoring strike to Brandon Markert with 1:14 to go to cut the margin to 10-7, but that would be the as close as the Bears would get.
“I owe it all to the guys up front blocking and the receivers running great routes,” said Kuhn of the scoring drive. “Without those guys we wouldn’t have gotten it done — we just came up short.”
Cary-Grove added a 31-yard field goal by Josh Buckingham just before half to take a 10-0 lead into the locker room.