Week 5: Scouting the North Suburban
Lake Zurich Bears (4-0, 2-0) at Warren Blue Devils (3-1, 2-0)
When: 7:30 p.m., Friday
Last week: Lake Zurich def. Zion-Benton, 36-6; Warren def. Lake Forest, 36-7.
Skinny: Lake Zurich was stingy and opportunistic on defense last week, picking off 4 Zion-Benton passes and turning two of them into pick-6 touchdowns. Sophomore Anthony Mangano got a pick-6 touchdown for the second week in a row ... Joey Stutzman, who also had a pick-6 touchdown, led the offense with 98 yards on 12 carries. The offense scored 2 touchdowns, on a run by quarterback Evan Lewandowski and a pass by Lewandowski to Matthijs Enters ... The Bears got a special teams score when Payton Powell took a kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown ... Warren also flexed its defensive muscle last week in keeping Lake Forest squarely under its thumb. The Blue Devils limited Lake Forest to just 6 first downs and 96 total yards of offense. Warren also forced 2 lost fumbles and an interception ... Offensively, Warren put up 373 yards, most of which came through the air. Quarterback Ian Schilling completed 20-of-36 passes for 226 yards and 4 touchdowns. Two of those touchdown passes went to Notre Dame-bound wide receiver Micah Jones (9 catches, 110 yards) ... Lake Zurich (32.3 ppg) and Warren (22.3 ppg) are the top two scoring offenses in the North Suburban. Lake Zurich is the top defense, by far. The Bears are allowing an average of 4 points per game ... Last year, Lake Zurich defeated Warren, 35-6.
Lake Forest Scouts (2-2, 0-2) at Libertyville Wildcats (2-2, 1-1)
When: 7:30 p.m., Friday
Last week: Lake Forest lost to Warren, 36-7; Libertyville def. Waukegan, 41-14.
Skinny: After opening the season with four straight road games, Libertyville finally returns home. The Wildcats' first home game will also debut the school's new field turf, which was redone over the summer ... Lake Forest has had only one road game this season, a 20-14 win at St. Viator in Week 2 ... Lake Forest had a rough outing on offense last week against Warren. The Scouts managed only 6 first downs and 96 total yards. They also lost 2 fumbles and threw an interception ... Lake Forest's only score last week came on a third-quarter screen pass of 46 yards from quarterback Jack Mislinski to Bryan Ooms. Mislinski was 5-of-9 for 61 yards ... Libertyville, planning to sport its all-black uniforms, got a nice bounce-back win last week after two straight losses in which it scored just 10 points in each game ... Against Waukegan, the offense flowed for the Wildcats, who rolled up 355 yards and all 41 of their points before halftime. Wide receiver Brendan Gallagher hauled in 3 touchdown passes for Libertyville and finished with 4 catches for 144 yards. Quarterback Alex Stanulis completed 10-of-17 passes for 238 yards and 4 touchdowns. And running back Brendan Bazar (11 carries, 78 yards) rushed for 2 touchdowns ... Last year, Lake Forest defeated Libertyville, 28-14.
Stevenson Patriots (3-1, 2-0) at Zion-Benton Zee-Bees (2-2, 1-1)
When: 7:30 p.m., Friday
Last week: Stevenson def. Mundelein, 35-7; Zion-Benton lost to Lake Zurich, 36-6.
Skinny: Stevenson is hoping to avoid a slow start against a dangerous Zion-Benton team. Last week, the Patriots fell behind Mundelein 7-0 before taking control with a big second half ... Running back JeanMarc Etienne helped to get Stevenson back on track. He ran in both of the Patriots' first-half scores and finished with 119 yards on 14 carries. Quarterback Grayson Kubow wound up with some big numbers as well. He completed 17-of-26 passes for 240 yards and 3 touchdowns. Alex Capstick was a big target, hauling in 3 passes for 81 yards ... Zion-Benton had some trouble with its passing game last week against Lake Zurich. Lake Zurich picked off 4 Zion-Benton passes and turned two of them into pick-6 scores. One Zion-Benton pass that ended up in the right end zone was when quarterback Jerome Crawford (11-for-31, 163 yards) hit Tyler Geiman for an 83-yard touchdown ... Last year, Stevenson defeated Zion-Benton, 48-42.
Waukegan Bulldogs (0-4, 0-2) at Mundelein Mustangs (1-3, 0-2)
When: 7 p.m., Friday
Last week: Waukegan lost to Libertyville, 41-14; Mundelein lost to Stevenson, 35-7.
Skinny: Waukegan, shut out the first three weeks, got its first points on the season last week. Juan Gonzalez ran in a 15-yard touchdown against Libertyville. And after a Libertyville fumble, Waukegan scored again. Quarterback Eriberto Soto found Chris Harper for a 6-yard touchdown. Soto completed 5-of-11 passes for 55 yards. Gonzalez led the ground game last week with 51 yards on 7 rushes ... Mundelein got off to a good start last week against Stevenson. The Mustangs recovered a Stevenson fumble and needed just two plays to find the end zone, on a 44-yard pass from quarterback Anthony Norris to Isaiah Wellman ... The Mustangs recovered 3 Stevenson fumbles on the night, but couldn't keep up with a determined Stevenson team in the second half. Norris completed 9-of-23 passes for 97 yards for the game ... Mundelein (12.5 ppg) and Waukegan (3.5 ppg) average the fewest points in the North Suburban Conference and the Waukegan defense is allowing 35 points per game, most in the league ... Last year, Mundelein defeated Waukegan, 29-14.