Lakes makes the leap against Antioch
Lakes' drive early in the fourth quarter included an insanely athletic play from Cameron Ruiz inside the 10-yard line, but ultimately yielded no points for the Eagles.
Ruiz, who took third in the Class 3A long jump at state last May, ran at an Antioch defender, then leapfrogged him, before being tackled at the 3 after a 7-yard gain.
Jaws dropped, as Ruiz sailed.
"I'm trying to do something new," Ruiz, who earlier in the game tried hurdling two defenders at the same time, said with a grin.
By game's end Friday night, lots of Eagles leapt - for joy.
Lakes denied Antioch in the red zone in the final minute and then ran out the clock to capture a 14-9 win over its district rival in front of a packed crowd in Lake Villa.
The victory ran Lakes' North Suburban Conference Prairie Division winning streak to 22 games - its last loss in the division was to Antioch in Week 6 of the 2011 campaign - but more importantly, it gave the Eagles (1-2, 1-0) their first victory of this season. They have made the state playoffs the last six years.
"We're worried about making the playoffs. That's it," Ruiz said after rushing 21 times for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns in his first start of the season at running back. The junior started at wide receiver the first two weeks.
"We knew we could not lose this game."
"We're aware of (the NSC Prairie winning streak)," Eagles outside linebacker Austin Tiffany said. "But we're just trying to go out there and play great team football."
Up 14-3 at halftime thanks to Ruiz's TD runs of 6 and 35 yards, Lakes looked in good shape, as its defense was doing an effective job on running back Griffin Hill (27 carries, 92 yards). Antioch (2-1, 0-1) still trailed by the same score when it took over at its own 21 with 5:54 left in the fourth quarter.
But Sequoits fullback Nick Dorosan (23 carries, 138 yards) busted off a 45-yard run to the Lakes 8. Then on fourth-and-goal, Hill scored from the 1 to make it a 4-point game with 2:52 to go.
On the two-point try, Tiffany denied Hill near the sideline.
"The defense had been playing great all night," Tiffany said. "We were making plays. We've been playing swarm defense. On the (conversion attempt), I was just doing what I was taught and took on the block."
Antioch wasn't done. Matt Adams recovered Ben Gutke's onside kick, giving the ball to the Sequoits at the Lakes 46. Dorosan's 20-yard gain helped the visitors get to the 16 with less than a minute left. But back-to-back passes by sophomore quarterback John Petty fell incomplete, and Lakes took over on downs.
Hill nearly snagged the first pass inside the 10.
"I probably should have caught that pass," Hill said. "Props to (Lakes). They played really well. They have a really solid defense. We just have to play a complete game."
With Dan Meade out with an ankle injury, Petty made his first varsity start. He completed 1 of 5 passes.
"He played a heck of a game," Hill said. "He had some pretty good passes that were just dropped by us, and there were some plays where he was getting hit and he still got the handoff off. Coming in and playing like that on a stage like this is just really impressive."
Lakes may not have played a complete game, but all that mattered at the end was the final score. Quarterback Jordan Mercure completed 8 of 14 passes for 123 yards.
"What an ugly win," Lakes coach Luke Mertens said. "That's been our story all year. We easily could be sitting at 3-0. But you saw how things kind of fell apart. We can't finish a drive ... (can't recover) an onside kick with our 'hands' team out there. We just got to clean those things up."