advertisement

Second-half surge lifts Zion-Benton past Round Lake

Cole Steger made his return at quarterback for Round Lake, albeit briefly, returning from a back injury.

And Chris Perry gave the Panthers a nice spark early in the second half.

But that wasn't nearly enough for a Round Lake victory, as visiting Zion-Benton scored 35 unanswered points in the second half and rolled past the Panthers 56-7 in a North Suburban crossover on Friday night.

Steger suffered a back injury a couple of weeks ago against De La Salle and missed the Antioch game last week. On Friday, Stieger took five snaps from center, and then he had injured his ankle with 11:29 left in the second quarter. He tried to hobble to the sideline before being helped off the field.

"It's never good to lose your first-string quarterback," Round Lake coach Jordan Eder said. "I don't know the extent of it. It was hurt pretty bad. We tried to tape it up and it wasn't good. He's expected to see the doctor (Saturday). It's a new injury. As he was brought down, a helmet hit him on the ankle."

Zion-Benton (3-1) found the end zone three times in the first half as it jumped out to a 21-0 lead.

Marcese Gonzalez (9 carries, 48 yards) made it 7-0 on a 13-yard run with 9:49 left in the opening quarter.

Then Gates (10 carries, 126 yards) broke free on a quarterback keeper for a 52-yard touchdown run with 9:17 left second quarter for a 14-0 Zee-Bees advantage. Gates (7-for-16, 129 yards and 2 TD passes) went to the air and made it 21-0 with 6:30 left in the half by throwing an 11-yard strike to Nick Reed.

The Panthers (1-3) showed some life early in the third quarter as Perry (3 catches, 51 yards) caught a screen pass from Ron Steadman (4-for-18, 70 yards) and scored on a 44-yard touchdown reception which cut the lead to 21-7 with 9:34 left in the period.

"It was huge at the time," Eder said. "We just couldn't answer back. Zion-Benton scored and we couldn't anything going on offense."

The Zee-Bees took over with four straight touchdowns in the third quarter and another in the fourth.

Gates scored his second rushing touchdown on a 21-yard run. Then Gates threw another TD pass to Geoffrey Mazur for a 36-yard reception. The Zee-Bees also scored on a Kyree McClean 32-yard interception return and Devaughn Miller's 21-yard fumble return. Finally, Devon Fuertado caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from Dillon Appenzeller.

Perry rushed for 91 yards on 10 carries to lead Round Lake.

"Our defense is extremely fast and our offense is fast," said Zion-Benton coach Robert Moynihan after Round Lake got it lone score. "We messed up on some coverages. We fixed that afterward and were able to pick them off on one of them. We just wanted to fix it, and then stop them."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.