It's all good for Lake Zurich at Fremd
A year ago, Lake Zurich's Noah Allgood not only played quarterback for the Bears, but linebacker as well.
But Lake Zurich coach Dave Proffitt wanted Allgood to focus just on handling the offense this fall.
Allgood showed just what the focus could entail, tossing a pair of touchdowns as Lake Zurich blanked Fremd 24-0 Friday night in Palatine in a game delayed over an hour because of lightning.
“It is a lot less tiring just playing quarterback,” said Allgood, who also played linebacker. “It went real well out there today. My line did a great job of protecting me, and that helped set up the play-action pass.”
Allgood played linebacker last year when Lake Zurich shut out Fremd 21-0 in the season opener. This year, he watched his defense stifle Fremd offensively while Allgood was 8-of-12 for 153 yards.
“I thought we could have done a lot better on offense,” Allgood said. “But we still put some points on the board.”
Proffitt, who moved Allgood to quarterback in the Bears' last four games, had high praise for his signal-caller.
“He is the real deal,” Proffitt said. “We really like him. He runs the team very well.
“He is a pretty good linebacker too. But we wanted to develop some other players and we like the way he plays on offense.”
Fremd had a chance on its first series to score. But a botched snap on a 32-yard field goal was the closest the Vikings would get.
Meanwhile, Allgood was just that. The senior went to that play-action pass to give the Bears a 7-0 lead.
With the Fremd defense keeping a close eye on Dylan Schassler (10 carries, 90 yards) and Zane Lodico, Allgood went to work. His play fake drew up the Fremd safeties and Ben Klett scooted past them to be all alone on a 56-yard hookup with 2:02 left in the the first quarter.
Allgood and Klett combined again to put the Bears up 14-0.
After Lake Zurich converted a key 4 fourth down play at the Fremd 23, Algood found Klett on a perfectly thrown pass on the right side of the end zone.
“I just tried to get the ball out there to him,” Allgood said. “I just had plenty of time out there.”
Fremd just couldn't find any time or running room. The Vikings managed just 50 yards of offense in the second half and were held to 128 yards of total offense.
“Our kids really take a lot of pride in our defense,” Proffitt said. “They really did a great job tonight.”
Led by linebacker Collon Moskal, who is headed to Syracuse, along with Sean Lynch, Anthony Baca, Alex Zurawski, John Strojny, and Colton Wagner, the Bears forced three turnovers.
That is what our defense is all about,” Moskal said. “We want to get 11 hats on the football.”
Lynch, who plays safety, found himself up or near the line scrimmage, keeping the Vikings from breaking off any long runs.
“We are taught to play alignment football all the time,” Lynch said. “I was just trying to get my nose in there. Between the linebackers and the defensive linemen taking on the blocks, I just tried to fill the alleys.”
A.J. Trittschuh nailed a 31-yard field goal last in the third quarter to make it 17-0.
The offensive line, that earned high praise from Allgood, showed why in the fourth quarter. The line of Chris Tsiapas, Aaron Hussey, Don Elmore, Luke Yankoe and Matt Michael, pushed the Vikings off the ball as Lake Zurich mounted a 16-play, 77-yard drive that consumed nearly nine minutes. Klett bolted over from the 7 for his third touchdown of the game.
“It was the line play that set me up today,” Klett said. “They opened the hole and gave me time to make my catches.”
Fremd coach Lou Sponsel said his team could bounce back from their play.
“You just can't line up against a good football team and not play,” Sponsel said. “We got beat at the point of attack. It came down that their key players wee more physical than our key players.
“But we will get it fixed. We will get back to work on it right away.”