Silent treatment proves powerful for Lakes

With his team tied 14-14 at halftime with host Wauconda, Lakes coach Luke Mertens thought the best halftime speech he could give the Eagles was . . . to say nothing at all.

"Actually all he did say was 'We get the second -half kickoff,' " senior Cameron Ruiz said.

If he did make a speech and provide valuable words of wisdom, Mertens likely would have mentioned that the Eagles needed to get the ball in the hands of the Northwestern-bound Ruiz. Or maybe he could have said that the defense needed to slow down the powerful Wauconda running game.

The silent treatment apparently worked for Lakes.

The Eagles scored on three of their first four possessions and held Wauconda off the scoreboard in a 34-14 Northern Lake Conference win Friday night.

"I've learned not to say anything," Mertens said about the halftime silent treatment. "All year long I have talked about how we need to come out and put our opponent away and we didn't do that. So I decided to say nothing."

While Mertens was quiet, the performance by Ruiz was anything but. On the second possession of the second half, Ruiz took a bubble pass from quarterback Brandon Khan and raced 51 yards for the score that put Lakes up for good at 20-14.

"I don't think we made any real adjustments in the second half - we just executed better," Ruiz said. "I love this team and playing with this group and we knew we had to play better to get this win."

After the Eagles defense stopped a Wauconda drive deep in Eagles territory, Ruiz took the hand off on the very next play and scooted 89 yards for his third score of the night and the lead was secure.

Ruiz finished with 214 yards on 13 carries and caught 3 balls for 72 yards.

"We were talking as a group. I have been in this area for 15 years and I don't think I have seen a more explosive kid than (Ruiz)," said Wauconda coach Dave Mills. "He has the ability to run away from people. He was lightning in a bottle and unfortunately it struck us a few times tonight."

Wauconda (1-3, 0-2) had its share of thunder in the form of senior Jacob Bicknase. Running backs like to carry the ball every play, and Bicknase nearly did so in the first half, getting 23 of his season-high 36 carries in the first half. He also tallied on a 6-yard score that brought the Bulldogs even with Lakes at 14-14. Bicknase finished with 228 yards rushing.

"I give credit to my offensive line. They opened up huge holes tonight," Bicknase said. "Give credit to Lakes as well. They made some adjustments and stopped us in the second half."

Lakes put the game away on a Khan 14-yard scoring run with 6:29 to play.