Deichl, Libertyville dial up a winner
If you had been trying to call Libertyville quarterback Jack Deichl during his game on Friday night, he probably could have taken your call … while he also scanned the field for open receivers.
Deichl had so much time in the pocket that he probably could have filed his nails and taken a quick power nap, too.
With his offensive linemen barely challenged by Warren's three-man rush, Deichl went to town in the passing game. He calmly, coolly and seemingly nonchalantly at times completed 24-of-34 passes for 309 yards in guiding Libertyville to a 42-24 victory over the host Blue Devils.
The Wildcats, who shook off a hot start by Warren that put them down 14-0 just five minutes into the game, move to 3-1 on the season and 1-1 in the North Suburban Conference Lake Division. Warren drops to 2-2, 1-1 in the Lake.
“The offensive line did a (heck) of a job tonight and when you have four or five weapons you can throw to like I do and you have that much time, good things happen,” said Deichl, who passed for 4 touchdowns and ran for another. “Usually as a quarterback you have a mental clock and when you're at two or three seconds, you're like, 'I've got to get out of here.' But tonight, I could stick in there a little bit more and it really opened things up underneath and even down the field a little bit. It was fun as a quarterback.”
Also enjoying themselves were the offensive linemen, who had taken a bit of heat from their coaches after last week's loss to Stevenson in which the offense often stalled and scored only 9 points.
“We just had to get it together this week because we didn't play very well last week,” said offensive lineman Brandon Stanfel, who is one of five returning starters on the line for the Wildcats. “We knew we had to come out and do something and we did.
“(Warren) only brought a three-man line and that made it a little easier for us. But we also did our jobs. We knew we were giving (Deichl) a lot of time. If we do that, he'll make a good toss.”
Austin Williams was on the receiving end of many of those good tosses. He hauled in 8 passes for 108 yards. Three of those were for touchdowns, including a 39-yarder.
“It's hard for the defenders to keep guarding us for that long,” Williams said of all the time Deichl was getting in the pocket. “It makes it easier for everyone. It was great.”
Conor Simpson also was a frequent target for Deichl, who went over 300 passing yards for the first time in his career. Simpson rolled up 115 yards on 8 receptions, including a 50-yard touchdown in the first quarter that got the Wildcats on the board after Warren scored on its first two possessions.
Warren running back Davonte Wilcox capped off a five-play drive that took less than two minutes with a 48-yard touchdown run. That gave the Blue Devils a 7-0 lead with 9:46 left in the first quarter. After Ryan Sweeney intercepted a Deichl pass on Libertyville's sixth play from scrimmage, Warren scored two plays later on a 25-yard quarterback keeper by Adam Reuss.
“That felt great. We came out banging from the start,” said Reuss, who ran for 48 yards and completed 20-of-29 passes for 219 yards. “We ran the ball in the beginning and we kept it balanced with some passing.
“I don't know what happened after that (start). We just weren't executing anymore and we turned the ball over.”
Warren did take a 21-14 lead into the locker room after Reuss connected with Connor Iwema for a 5-yard touchdown pass with 1:04 left before the halftime break. But Libertyville scored on back-to-back possessions late in the third quarter to take a lead (28-21) that it would never relinquish.
“Our kids showed great character in coming back,” Libertyville coach Mike Jones said. “They don't quit. The offensive line did a great job for (Deichl) and he found the receivers he needed to find. Warren didn't always rush five guys. A lot of the time it was three, and that helped. But even when they did bring pressure, our linemen picked it up and still gave Jack the time. They did a great job.”
The Libertyville linemen also helped pave the way for 92 rushing yards for Brian Swift.
Wilcox led Warren with 114 rushing yards. The Blue Devils also got big receiving games out of Iwema (7 catches, 79 yards) and Zack Rappel (7 catches, 75 yards).
“We knew that (being up 14-0) Libertyville wasn't going to roll over at all,” Warren coach Dave Mohapp said. “We executed well early but they did a nice job of adjusting to us.”