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Lake Park defense stops Metea Valley

The Lake Park football team's defense wasn't textbook. But it was firing on all cylinders and played a huge role Friday night in beating host Metea Valley 21-12.

The biggest example of its effectiveness came in the second half. The Mustangs (2-4, 2-4 DuPage Valley Conference) got the ball to start the second half and moved the ball 44 yards in 11 plays in an efficient drive. But Lake Park (3-3, 3-2) held Metea to a 27-yard field goal by Connor Lovely.

The other long Mustangs drive, which occurred early in the fourth quarter and lasted 9 plays, yielded no points.

"Definitely. Limiting them to that field goal was huge," said Lancers defensive lineman Mike Panasiuk. "Having that brotherhood (on defense) is key starting with the work we put off in the off-season. If the offense drives the ball and doesn't get the ball into the end zone, we are right there. If they score, we (the defense) keep going."

Lake Park coach Chris Roll said while Metea was able to move the ball, the Lancers' defense held when it had to in the clutch.

"When Metea was inside our 30 that became our zone and that became a mentality," he said.

The Mustangs jumped out to a 9-0 lead after the first quarter on a Lovely 23-yard field goal on Metea's first drive of the game that capped an 11-play drive.

The Lancers fumbled on the first play of their new possession with Ben Sanchez recovering the ball.

Nine plays later, Amiri Finner went in at quarterback with Lovely going to a wideout slot. Finner kept the ball and hit end zone from 2 yards out.

Lake Park ran the ball 41 times against the Mustangs, and while not passing a lot on Friday mixed throws in effectively with their running game and that was evident on their last two scoring drives of the first half. Quarterback Jaron Fields kept the ball for a 2-yard TD run just 52 seconds into the second quarter and Fields hit end zone from the 2 again with 57 seconds left until halftime.

The Mustangs' Maurice Burkley effectively throughout the entire contest, but especially in the second half. And with the wind gusting very strong from north to south, a team needed to be especially selective when passing. Burkley ran the ball five times during Metea's second-half opening drive that resulted in a field goal and its final points of the evening. He finished with 119 yards on 20 carries.

"Mo ran hard all night and against that defense which is very impressive," said Metea coach Ben Kleinhans.

The Lancers' final score of the night, which solidified the margin of victory, came on a 10-yard run from Nathan Faruzzi with 11:46 to play.

"The key tonight was Lake Park blocked and tackled better than we did," Kleinhans said. "Their D-line is the best we'll see. They were able to get pressure without blitzing."

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