Judging from the 7-7 halftime score, Friday night’s North Suburban Lake battle between Stevenson and Lake Zurich was shaping up into an old-school, grinder football game.
But No. 8 Lake Zurich decided the second half should be more of a track meet.
The Bears (8-1, 5-1), who gained 140 yards in the first half, erupted for 246 yards and 28 unanswered points in the second while the league’s stingiest defense flexed its muscles in an impressive 35-7 victory in the regular-season finale for both playoff-bound teams.
“We really only had one possession in the first half, and we knew we could drive the ball downfield–we just needed to stop making stupid plays,” said junior running back Adam Simpson, who finished the night with 12 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown.
“We’ve got a lot of speed on this team. All we need is a little hole and we can take care of things.”
Stevenson (7-2, 4-2) went on a 16-play, 54-yard drive to score its first-half touchdown. Lake Zurich countered with an 18-play, 83-yard drive to account for the 7-7 halftime tie. From there, it was lights out.
The Bears scored on runs of 55, 61 and 72 yards in the second half, and junior defensive back Michael Dietrich picked off his eighth pass of the season and returned it 38 yards for his third touchdown of the year. The visiting Patriots were stunned.
Jon Janus led Lake Zurich with 102 yards on just five carries. Quarterback Matt Blanchard added 74 yards on the same number of carries, and Kyle Skarb had 53 on 10.
Stevenson’s Daniel Dowd carried seven times for 51 yards.
