Lakes' football team pulled off a few tricks by recovering four onside kicks on Saturday night.

They needed to as the Eagles also overcame 6 turnovers to win the 5-year-old program's first playoff game.

No. 15 Lakes pulled off a 40-20 victory over second-seeded Senn 40-20 in the opening round of the Class 5A playoffs at Lane Tech Stadium in Chicago.

The Eagles (6-4) also earned a home game for the second round and will host seventh-seeded Woodstock (7-3) next weekend.

"We got the monkey off our back," Lakes coach Luke Mertens said. "It's like a bittersweet victory. One side of me, extremely upset with the mistakes we made. We won, which was fine. But we made too many mistakes.

"We had only 6 (turnovers) but it felt like 30. Our special teams and special units we're a big factor in this game. They're the ones who kept us in it, because we kept putting the ball on the ground."

Eagles' kicker Mike Beckman, who almost made the on-side kicks work by design, even recovered one. But he hit a critical 35-yard field with 4:45 left in the third quarter.

It put the Eagles up 20-14 and started a run of 23 unanswered points.

"We practiced the on-side kick a lot this week in practice," Beckman said. "I think it all comes natural and a pretty simple thing to do.

"The field goal was big not only for the team but for me. I screwed up on the previous play dropping a pass. I wanted to get my confidence making the kick."

Donte Arnold gave Lakes some breathing room with 3:01 remaining in the third by recovering and returning a 21-yard fumble for a touchdown and a 27-14

lead.

"I knew I had to make a play," Arnold said. "I just scooped it up and scored. I saw it bouncing down and didn't want to fall on it. It was

unbelievable."

The Eagles' Andrew Tubek (15 carries, 153 yards) started the game with a 91-yard touchdown run on the first play. Tyler Menheer rushed for touchdowns of 1 and 3 yards.

Direll Clark also had a 3-yard touchdown score and Beckman added a 28-yard field goal.

Senn (8-2) gave away the ball 5 times with 4 fumbles and an

interception.