Three stars power Lakes past Wauconda

On Friday, the Chicagoland area witnessed the start of our beloved professional hockey club's training camp down in Indiana.

And a hockey theme was also on display in Lake County at Polley Field on Friday night.

A hat trick in hockey is when a player scores 3 goals. Host Lakes had three players achieve differing football versions of the feat in their fourth straight win, a 56-13 North Suburban Prairie Division victory over Wauconda.

Eagles running back Devyn Cedzidlo was stellar on the ground, tallying 3 touchdowns, and set the tone with 110 of his game-high 197 yards rushing on his first two carries. The second carry resulted in a 59-yard touchdown to put the Eagles up 14-0 on just their third offensive play of the game.

"The offensive line did what they had to do tonight," said Cedzidlo. "Every time I got the ball, there were huge holes. Coach (Mertens) just tells me to run hard through the hole."

Lakes quarterback Jordan Mercure hooked up with his favorite target Jake Balliu for 3 touchdowns in the first half, the first coming on Lakes' second offensive play from 24 yards out. Mercure lofted the second to Balliu 19 yards down the right sideline, and the third down the left sideline for a 53-yard strike.

"Jordan and Jake always click," Cedzidlo said. "Like bread and butter, those two."

"We went out with a game plan that coach set up," said Balliu. "I got open, Jordan threw me the ball and it just went good from there."

With the passing exploits of the first half pacing Lakes (4-0, 2-0 in Prairie Division) to a 35-7 lead, the Eagles kept it on the ground in the second half. However, that did not deter Mercure or Balliu from reaching the end zone for a fourth time. Mercure raced untouched from 2 yards away and Balliu raced 61 yards on a keeper.

Wauconda (2-2, 1-1) had a nice rhythm on offense to start the game but came away empty handed. They did manage to get on a scoreboard behind Kevin Malisheski's 200 yards passing. The Bulldogs quarterback found Jake Grobelny from 12 yards out in the first half and tossed another score, 11 yards to Joseph Schaer in the second half.

"They (Lakes) were able to get some good pressure on us," said Wauconda coach Dave Mills. "They're a fast team, and we have played two fast teams the past two weeks in Lake Forest and Lakes. You have to tip your hat to Lakes.

"I told my players that we are in this to get better. We will sit down and go over film tomorrow and we will move on from this game."