Football: Lakes makes the postseason a priority

Listed on Lakes' stadium scoreboard are the football team's state-playoff seasons. There is no mention, however, of the Eagles' numerous North Suburban Conference Prairie Division championships.

You won't find the latter achievements printed on T-shirts, either.

"We don't care about conference championships," coach Luke Mertens said. "We don't care about rivalry games. None of that matters to us."

What matters to the Eagles every season is winning six games, which automatically earns a postseason berth.

"We've been able to get to 6 wins a lot (eight times in 11 years as a program)," Mertens said. "We have not been able to play our best football in October-November. That's been the problem."

Five out of the eight times Lakes has been in the postseason, the Eagles have lost their opening game.

So as the Eagles ready themselves to play in the newly formed Northern Lake County Conference, after completing North Suburban Prairie play by winning their last 27 division games and winning their fourth outright title (fifth overall), the game plan hasn't changed.

Not that they don't embrace their new conference, which includes fellow perennial Lake County power Grayslake North.

"I really like it because now we have a new challenge in Grayslake North," said Diego Torrez, a 6-foot, 235-pound senior nose guard/offensive lineman. "It just helps us get better in the end."

"It's good competition," said Leon Small, a 5-9, 160-pound senior running back/defensive back. "I think we're going to have some good games this year."

Having a great player will help.

Cameron Ruiz enters his third varsity season as a Northwestern recruit, after verbally committing to the Wildcats in the spring. He's started in the defensive secondary the last two years and last season flourished as the team's featured running back.

An all-conference selection last fall, Ruiz went on to win Class 3A state track championships in the long jump and triple jump.

Lakes graduated quarterback Jordan Mercure, who set several school-passing records in his two seasons as a varsity starter, but the Eagles have a more-than-capable replacement in Brandon Khan. The senior started last season at wide receiver but played only three games before suffering a hairline fracture in his shin, causing him to miss the rest of the year.

"Any other year, when you don't have a kid like Jordan (at quarterback), Brandon's a starter," Mertens said. "He was absolutely, 100-percent talented enough to be our starting quarterback last year."

"Brandon's a great quarterback too," Small said. "He's definitely looking really good. Brandon's basically the same (QB). He's really good at running. Really athletic. Really good arm, too."

Small will spell Ruiz in the offensive backfield. Ethan Greenfield started at defensive back as a sophomore last year and played some running back as well.

The wide-receiver group includes seniors Nick Garcia and Griffin Quinn, junior Ryan Selig, who started last year, and sophomore newcomer D'lo Hardy, who can play running back too.

Jack Christensen, a 6-4 senior, is back to man an offensive-tackle spot. Seniors Torrez, Nick Sinkovec, Andrew Picchietti, Alek Nikitow and Kirk Burns, and juniors Eric Lund, Garrett Parsons and Kole Skinner all are competing for starting positions.

"We have a pretty good O-line this year," Torrez said. "We're jelling a lot better than usual. We all hang out together away from the field. We got that chemistry going on offense."

The athletic trio of Ruiz, Small and Greenfield anchor the defensive secondary. Gone is all-state linebacker Dave Boudart, who played four varsity seasons. Hoping to pick up the slack are senior A.J. Callahan, senior Jon Hayman and junior newcomers Deven Lindsey, Robert King and Dalton Naylor.

The defensive line includes Torrez, Christensen, junior J.T. Lorian and senior Tyler Burda.

Versatile Austin Tiffany started at linebacker as a sophomore and last year played both offensive line and linebacker. He'll play on both lines this season.

"I don't mean it disrespectfully to anyone who's beaten us in the playoffs," Mertens said. "But we have beaten ourselves more than we have been beaten. That's something we have to fix."