Deichl stands tall as Libertyville delivers

Standing near the 50-yard line, after ruining Mundelein’s 50th anniversary party, Libertyville’s football players took a knee and assistant coach Mike Jones cued his quarterback.

“And now,” Jones said, “Jack Deichl will lead us.”

Before leading his team in a victory cheer, Deichl led the homecoming-spoiling Wildcats on the field.

Making his first varsity start at quarterback, Deichl threw for 167 yards and a touchdown in three quarters, and Libertyville beat its jacked-up rival 28-7 on a cool, damp Friday night.

Hutch Herchenbach, who started the Wildcats’ first three games at quarterback, played the fourth quarter and also tossed a TD pass.

“Hutch had been having problems with his back, and coming in on Monday they started giving me reps with the first team,” said Deichl, a 6-foot-5 junior, who completed 11 of 19 passes. “I just had to be ready.”

Deichl marched Libertyville (3-1, 1-0 North Suburban Lake) 67 yards on 12 plays, with Joey Salata diving in from the 1 to break a scoreless tie with 2:58 left before halftime.

On its next possession, Libertyville faced a fourth-and-10 from the Mundelein 34. Deichl went deep, hit Austin Williams in stride, and the Wildcats were up 14-0 with 56 seconds to go before halftime.

“All day (Mundelein) had a single high safety, and my job was just to look which way the safety went,” Deichl said. “We had Austin on a deep post and he was there, so I just tossed it to him.”

Deichl directed another scoring drive to open the second half, with Brian Swift’s 6-yard run making it a 21-0 game. Swift gained 91 yards on 15 carries before leaving the game late in the third quarter with an injury and not returning.

Deichl made sure the offense ran smoothly.

“Hutch was down, and Jacked stepped up and played great,” said Williams, who caught 3 passes for 75 yards. “We couldn’t have asked for more. He made plays, reads. He just did a fantastic job all around.”

Libertyville’s defense stepped up, too. In the third quarter, consecutive sacks by Drew Krinitsky backed Mundelein up to its own 21. Jordan Bregenzer attempted a field goal from 38 yards out, but the ball hit the crossbar and bounced into the end zone, keeping the Mustangs off the scoreboard.

Mundelein finally ended a streak of 11 straight quarters without a touchdown when quarterback Gable Leppert (8 of 25, 111 yards) found wide receiver Drew Malcolm in the end zone from 19 yards out with 11:13 left in the fourth, pulling the Mustangs within 21-7.

“This was the most pumped up and most excited we’ve gone into a game,” said Mundelein senior fullback/linebacker Matt Heppert, who rushed nine times for 37 yards. “We had so much to play for.”

While Mundelein (0-4, 0-2) had plenty of incentive to perform well, so did Libertyville. The home team presented retiring Wildcats head coach Randy Kuceyeski with an appreciation plaque before the game. Kuceyeski, who continues to battle cancer and was just released from another weeklong hospital stay, left at halftime.

“He talked to us before the game and in the middle of the game, and really inspired us,” Williams said. “I think that really helped motivate us through the second half.”

After Mundelein’s touchdown, Herchenbach’s 16-yard TD pass to tight end Jack Crandell with 8:03 to go put Libertyville back up by three touchdowns.

“They always want to play us tough, and they do,” Jones said of the Mustangs. “I give them all the credit. They come out and play hard.”

Mundelein moved the ball well on the game’s opening series, but fumbled the ball away at the Libertyville 33. Early in the second quarter, the hosts lost another fumble, at the Libertyville 27.

“Turnovers killed us,” Heppert said.

“It was definitely good that we got up on the board. I think the defense played pretty well. I think we really shut down their run game.”