Hardy, Lakes roll in with another solid showing
Lakes' football team jumped out quickly and did not look back in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs.
Dylan DeAngelo recovered an important fumble and added a rushing touchdown, D'Lo Hardy scored 3 touchdowns, and quarterback Chris Selig added a score of his own. It all added up to an impressive win by seventh-seeded Lakes, 35-17 over No. 10 Belvidere North in Lake Villa on Friday night.
DeAngelo was given a pineapple for his fumble recovery that led to the Eagles (8-2) taking the lead for good early in the second quarter.
"Every turnover we get, it's a pineapple," DeAngelo said. "So if it's a fumble recovery or a pick, we'll get a pineapple. I'll just hold onto it or eat it."
The fumble recovery occurred as the game was tied 7-7. DeAngelo fell on it at the Blue Thunder 32.
"It was exciting, especially in a big game like this one," DeAngelo said. "I had my eyes in the backfield and I saw the quarterback was trying to find the ball. My teammates were screaming, 'Ball,' and I looked on the ground. I found it and dove on it right away."
Seven plays after that, Hardy found the end zone on a 3-yard run for a 14-7 lead with 11:12 left in the second quarter.
Lakes added another score with 6:43 left, as Hardy (2 catches, 91 yards) caught a 28-yard TD pass from Selig to increase Lakes' lead to 21-7.
Belvidere North (6-4) cut its deficit to 21-10 late in the first half.
Hardy (10 carries, 147 yards) opened the third quarter by busting off a 75-yard run that increased the lead out 28-10. Selig then scampered into the end zone from 11 yards out, extending the lead to 35-10 with 1:03 left in the third.
The Blue Thunder got a score back in the final quarter, when Jourdan Irvin scored on a 16-yard run.
Belvidere North's Clay Davis opened the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run with 7:11 left in the opening quarter.
DeAngelo tied the game at 7-7 on Lakes' next possession on a fourth-and-goal run from the 2.
Lakes will await the winner of Saturday's Reavis at Antioch matchup.
"We did what we wanted to do - control the line and hold (Belvidere North) to 17," Lakes coach Jordan Eder said. "The biggest thing in the first half was their couple of mistakes. We recovered a fumble and got a big stop. Then we punched it in on both. It was the hot start we wanted, and we made some big plays. We played four quarters. It's been something I've been waiting for to us to do for a long time."