Football: Lake County notes

There was no such thing as a moral victory for Lakes two weeks ago against Stevenson.

Sure, Lakes (5-1) played the top-ranked Patriots as tough as any team this season. But the 21-3 loss was still a loss for the disappointed Eagles, who had high expectations entering that game and forced Stevenson to cling to a 7-3 lead at halftime.

"Our kids were really upset that we lost that game," Lakes coach Luke Mertens said. "They really believed that they could beat one of the best teams in the state and that's been a 10-year process to build up to that.

"That's the most important thing to come out of that game. In past years, that game would have been over as soon as we saw it on our schedule. We've been battling (the underdog status) since the inception of our program. We tell the kids that they can't go in with a defeatist attitude and these kids don't. They know that others might not believe in them, but they believe in themselves. I think that's how we competed so well against Stevenson ."

One challenge that can foil even the biggest of believers is injury, and Lakes has had its fair share of injury problems over the years.

Two weeks ago, leading rusher Devyn Cedzidlo went down with a fractured fibula that is supposed to keep him out six to eight weeks. Last year, the Eagles lost starting quarterback T.J. Edwards for most of the season with hand and knee injuries. He went on to sign with Wisconsin.

"We've been down this road before," Mertens said. "We've started telling the kids to expect problems with injuries. Good players are going to go down and it's up to the next kids to believe in themselves and step right in."

He's everywhere:

Cody Brumm wasn't sitting on his bum much during last week's game against Vernon Hills.

The Lakes senior running back did a little bit of everything to help get a record-breaking 73-13 win.

Brumm scored 2 touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving. He also was 10-of-10 on extra points. He kicked a 29-yard field goal and 3 touchbacks and also recovered an on-side kick.

"That was about as complete a game as a kid could have," Lakes coach Luke Mertens said. "The only thing that he didn't do was play defense for us, but he can do that for us, too."

Brumm's receiving touchdown came on a 16-yard pass from quarterback Jordan Mercure, who was 13-of-15 for 196 yards and a perfect 13-of-13 in the first half.

"Jordan also had a very good game and is getting very comfortable in his decision making," Mertens said.

Lots of chances:

The 73 points that Lakes put up on Vernon Hills last week didn't come by chance.

Part of it is that Lakes played its best all-around game of the year. Meanwhile, the nature of the game played favorably to a lot of Lakes opportunities.

"What happened was that the game got extended because of their offense," Lakes coach Luke Mertens said of Vernon Hills, which attempted 24 passes and used a no-huddle. "We got eight drives in the first half alone. Typically, we don't get eight drives in a game. We might get between six and eight.

"We also did a really good job of running the ball and controlling the clock. We kept them off the field, which is what we set out to do."

Craziness in Fox Lake:

It wasn't looking good for host Grant late in last week's game against Wauconda.

But fans who left the home stands early, disappointed that their Bulldogs were down 23-6 late in the third quarter, missed all kinds of fireworks at the end.

Grant scored three touchdowns late in the second half to take a 26-23 lead with less than a minute to play.

But if that weren't crazy enough, Wauconda then fired back with an improbable touchdown of its own with 7 seconds left. That gave Wauconda the lead back at 29-26.

Grant, with just one second left, one play left and 60 yards to go, delighted its loyal fans one more time. Somehow, quarterback Spencer Lhotka found Jeremy Bredwood for a 60-yard touchdown pass that gave Grant a 32-29 win.

"I've never been involved in anything like that…3 touchdowns in the final 44 seconds of the game, scoring on the very last play," said Grant coach Vito Andriola, whose team is now 2-4 on the season. "There was a little luck involved, but we also kept battling. I'm proud of our guys for that."

Andriola, in his first season at Grant, is hoping that his players can ride the positive energy from that win for the rest of the season.

"I've already seen that happening," Andriola said. "(Tuesday) was our best practice of the year. I had the most fun I've ever had at Grant. We want to practice hard but we also want to have fun and we had fun at that practice. We had some laughs, we got work done.

"We have a lot of work to do still, but I think we can really build off that (Wauconda) win."

In good hands:

How clutch was Grant quarterback Spencer Lhotka in last week's dramatic win over Wauconda?

On the Bulldogs' final play of the game, Lhotka was certainly facing long odds. Down 29-26, one second left, 60 yards to the end zone.

"And he dropped the snap (on the final play)," Grant coach Vito Andriola said with a laugh. "But he did a really good job of (staying calm) and then he threw a really nice ball to Jeremy."

Grant senior Jeremy Bredwood hauled in a 60-yard touchdown pass from Lhotka for the win.

Andriola would like to see Lhotka complete more big passes like that. The run-oriented Bulldogs could use some balance in their offense to make their running game even more effective.

"Our running game has been good all season, but we run so much that we're running against 9 to 10 people (in the box)," Andriola said. "We want to be able to throw the ball more, like at least 18 times a game. Spencer is getting better at throwing it and we'll need him to be able to do that more."

Perry plowing:

It's a good thing that Chris Perry's dancing skills have taken a hit this season.

Dancing on the football field isn't always a good thing.

Perry, Round Lake's big senior running back, has been working to improve some habits he fell into as a younger player. And his new approach came together perfectly last week when he rolled up 141 yards on 24 carries in a win over North Chicago.

"Chris got into dancing a little bit too much (in the backfield)," Round Lake coach Jordan Eder said. "Every running back wants to try to put a big move on someone. But we've been stressing to him that he should wait until he gets to the second level of a defense before he starts making his moves.

"We want him to be the 215-pound running back that he is and burst through the line. Put your shoulders down and go run hard. He's hard to bring down when he does that."

Eder says that too many moves in the backfield by a running back gives a full wave of defenders time to react. When a running back blows past the first wave of defenders, then he can use his moves more successfully against just one or two defenders.

"Chris definitely has good moves that we want him to use because he can make people miss," Eder said. "We just want him to do it downfield when he has one guy to beat, not when the entire defense is in front of him. We want him to get to the gaps then make his moves. He's been getting a lot better at that."

Perry has about 300 rushing yards on the season so far.

Quarterback question:

There might be a quarterback controversy at Round Lake.

Starter Cole Steger fractured his fibula in the second game of the season and just recently got cleared. He will be available for Friday's game against Lakes.

In the meantime, backup Ron Steadman has been filling in admirably. In fact, he led Round Lake to its second win of the season last week against North Chicago by completing 8-of-14 passes for 171 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown.

"It's hard when a starter gets injured and another guy comes in and plays well," Round Lake coach Jordan Eder said. "We're just going to have them battle it out in practice and decide at game time what we're going to do. We could use them both, but at the same time, you want your quarterback to get in the rhythm of the game. We'll have to see what happens. We're just lucky to have two guys who can play so well at that position for us."

Steger was actually cleared before the North Chicago game last week, but Eder decided he would be better served to get back into game shape before he took live snaps again.

"Cole is now as close to 100 percent as he could be," Eder said. "He was lucky. It was a really small fracture in a non-weight bearing bone. We're glad to have him back."

The best:

After notching a 38-20 win over St. Viator last week, Carmel got high praise from head coach Andy Bitto.

"That was our best game in three full seasons, since our (playoff) game against Addison Trail in 2011," Bitto said. "We don't want to get complacent because we can still get better, but we're also really excited about the way we played at Viator."

Bitto is especially excited about his offense, which rolled up 374 total yards and was particularly effective on the ground with 370 yards.

"In our (option) offense, we need a quarterback who makes good decisions, an offensive line that plays low and hard, a fullback who can make plays and a wide receiver that can be a threat (to keep defenses slightly honest)," Bitto said. "We finally have that all at the same time again. The last two years, we haven't been healthy at any of those positions.

"We've played five or six guys at fullback each season, we've had a jumble at quarterback, we've had injuries on the line. We now have some consistency in those positions and you can tell. I really feel we're back on track offensively."

At quarterback, Carmel got 122 rushing yards out of Michael Huiras last week against St. Viator. Meanwhile, fullback Rondel Jamison rolled up 180 yards behind the big blocks of Sean Foster, Adam Stull, Ben Eppel, Patrick Lyman and Joe Lythcke. Tight end Noah Turner is improving on his blocks and is the Corsairs' big-play receiving threat.

Quote of the week:

Carmel coach Andy Bitto on sophomore fullback Rondel Jamison, whose demeanor is more like that of a senior. Jamison is coming off a 180-yard, 3-touchdown game against St. Viator last week: "I would expect Rondel to lose it once in a while. He's just a sophomore. But he's not like that. He's so even-keel and he just doesn't get rattled. Whether he gets stopped for a 1-yard gain or runs for a 30-yard touchdown, he doesn't overplay it either way. He's just so mature and I think that's part of the reason he's been so successful."