Lake Zurich bounces back with shutout of Zion-Benton

Darn right there was pressure.

Anytime you switch schools going into your senior year, there are obstacles. Especially, if you play football. All eyes on the quarterback.

Lake Zurich has not exactly impressed much in the early going. On Friday night, underdog, Zion-Benton trailed only 3-0 entering the second quarter.

And then quarterback, Matt McGraw found James Piggott for a 38-yard touchdown pass. Was there ever a receiver more open than Piggott was on this play.?

"Our game plan was to run the ball,'' Piggott explained. "Their defensive backs were flying up to the line. Our offensive line protected McGraw."

McGraw had other thoughts on the wide open play.

"I was just hoping that I wouldn't miss him,'' McGraw said.

McGraw fired three 3 TD passes on Friday night. The LZ defense tossed a shutout. The Bears moved to 2-1 with a 23-0 whitewash.

"There was a lot of pressure coming over here,'' McGraw admitted. "I came from Grant and I don't think people think much of that program. I wanted to prove myself.''

Still, 9-0 at halftime wasn't much to brag about. The final quarter was all Lake Zurich. One play into the fourth quarter and another TD went up for the Bears. McGraw connected with Jack Moses for a 10-yard scoring play.

That play looked good once and even twice. On the Bears' next possession, McGraw hit Moses, this time for 47 yards and the final score.

"Right now, our defense is leading us,'' McGraw added. "We had a lot of guys back on defense. But our offensive line will improve and we have great receivers in Piggott, Moses and Michael Gallus.''

Austin LePage and Hunter Welcing intercepted passes for Lake Zurich and George Gritsonis recovered a fumble.

Schaumburg 57, Niles West 7: To think, even after delivering a 57-7 win Friday night, Schaumburg's football team thinks it can still play better.

While it will get its chance to find out, Schaumburg (2-1) did show that it is not "full of itself," according to its coach, even after coasting pretty much after the first quarter.

"I thought it took is a little while to get going," said coach Mark Stilling, whose defense limited Niles West (0-3) to 139 total yards, rang up 5 turnovers and consistently landed the offense in good field position.

Niles West's Jack Lochner hit John Trinh to set up a short Trinh TD run to make it 14-7.