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Wheaton North denies Lake Park crucial win

The Lake Park football team came to Wheaton North on Friday night hungry for a win that would qualify it for the playoffs for the first time since 2009. But don't underestimate the hunger of an opponent with seniors playing their last home game.

The Falcons (4-5, 3-2 DuPage Valley Conference) were playing for pride and got plenty of it to take with them after a solid four-quarter effort resulted in a 20-12 victory.

"We did not change our mentality. We had the best week of practice that we've had all season. We're happy to get the win," said senior punter Alex Alkevicius, who played a crucial role in the touchdown that put the game on ice.

With Lake Park (5-4, 2-3) approaching midfield with close to six minutes left in the game, the Lancers coughed up the ball and Wheaton North's Artem Pinkevich recovered at the Falcons' 44-yard line. A keeper by sophomore quarterback Luke Anthony and a Lake Park personal foul tacked on to the run put Wheaton North into Lancers territory at the 38. The drive sputtered after that and the Falcons were facing fourth-and-7 and heading to what appeared to be a punt with a slim 13-12 advantage.

Enter Alkevicius. The football went to him, and he found Matt Giles wide open for a 34-yard TD pass with 3:29 remaining.

"I knew we would run it sometime during the game. I then heard the coaches say that we're running the fake punt. I was kind of nervous. But I saw them shift right and I saw an opening," Alkevicius said.

Lake Park, however, was not finished and the game ended with the Lancers on the Falcons' 10. Junior quarterback Jaron Fields kept his team moving all night even on broken plays.

"(Fields) kind of emerged as our quarterback. He was making any sort of yardage out of nothing. He was making plays early and late in the game to keep drives going," Lancers coach Chris Roll said.

Fields threw for 119 yards and rushed for 101.

A 16-yard run by him and an 18-yard pass to Anthony Marino pushed Lake Park deep into Wheaton North territory on the final drive, but it was too late. Roll was not optimistic about the Lancers' chances at getting into the playoffs at 5-4.

"We needed this win tonight," he said.

Wheaton North took its first lead of the game early in the third quarter when Anthony found senior receiver Michael Bloss downfield and Bloss made an over-the-shoulder catch for a 51-yard TD reception. Later, Lake Park kicker Cameron Van Aswegen kicked his second field goal, a 36-yard boot, to put the Lancers back up 12-10 before the Falcons' Nick Cairo made good on his second field goal, a 33-yarder with 10:16 left in the game that gave Wheaton North the 13-12 lead.

Anthony threw for 218 yeards and completed his first 10 passes.

"(The future) does look good. But we are all about the seniors and I feel bad we couldn't get it done for them. I would have liked to have gotten one more game for them," said Wheaton North coach Joe Wardynski.

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