Lake Park makes sure of first conference victory

Lake Park made sure coach Chris Roll notched his first Upstate Eight Conference victory in a deciding fashion.

Running back Ronald Castaldo scored on just the second play of the first drive as the Lancers trounced host East Aurora 49-0 in Valley Division play Friday night in Aurora.

“We had a touch stretch there against Bartlett, Waubonsie Valley and South Elgin, and we really expected to perform better,” Roll said. “I challenged them this week to really step into this game and present a physical presence. And that’s what we did.”

The Lancers struck again quickly on their second drive with some physical dominance. After holding the Tomcats to a three and out, Lake Park scored on 37-yard swing pass from quarterback Zack Gehant to receiver Mike Van Aswogon.

The Lancers’ third possession followed another three and out and was finished off this time by a 14-yard scamper by junior Scott Granfeldt. Another Gehant touchdown pass ran the score to 26-0.

The Lancers defense recorded the next 2 points, smearing Tomcats quarterback Latrell Lee in the end zone after a fumble by a Tomcats teammate.

The Lancers scored again on their next drive as LaCurt Evans converted a 2-yard touchdown run, making it 35-0. Senior running back Tyler Smith was the next Lancer to score a touchdown, rumbling 25 yards to push the Lake Park lead to 42-0. Quarterback Mike Korol ripped off a 57-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter, eluding tacklers and rumbling down the field for a 49-0 lead.

Lake Park capitalized on 3 recovered fumbles while forcing 10, and it played a relentless 48 minutes. Roll was careful to keep the game in check.

“We’ve been in a few situations like that with so many turnovers,” Roll said. “(East Aurora coach) Bill Bryant is a great guy, and I felt bad for him with so many turnovers. We lived through that against Waubonsie. But we were as happy as we could be capitalizing on so many turnovers.”

Lake Park (2-4, 1-3) saw its defense hold East Aurora (0-6, 0-3) to 75 total yards and a shutout. Until the third quarter, East Aurora managed only 2 first downs and were forced into 3 and outs through the entire first half.