After falling to the Warren Blue Devils last Friday, the Scouts varsity football team awaits a much different game this week. The juxtaposition between a Friday night homecoming game against the top ranked team in conference and a Saturday afternoon road matchup with the 0-5 Waukegan Bulldogs couldn’t be clearer. But for a team with two wins on the year and four games left, there isn’t a ton of breathing room with playoff selections looming.
About the Bulldogs: Waukegan comes into Saturday’s game at 0-5 with three conference losses at the hands of Warren, Mundelein, and Libertyville. These conference losses combine for a score of 147-12, not pretty for Saturday’s host. The Bulldogs are coached by Jonathan Hadnott who is in his second season as head coach. On offense, they are led by junior running back Josiah Kerney and quarterback Giovanni Quinones. The duo has dealt with turnover problems this year which has led to many points for opposing teams. Hadnott’s team will have to play a clean game in order to keep things close with the Scouts. Defensive linemen Fernando Andino and defensive back Gildardo Maya lead the defense and will look to force stops on the Lake Forest offense. Key turnovers have plagued the Scouts in their losses and the Bulldogs will need to force a few of their own on Saturday.
About the Scouts: Coach Spagnoli’s team is coming off a 24-10 loss to the North Suburban Conference leader, Warren Township. Last Friday, the Lake Forest offense was unable to get anything going and allowed six sacks in Tommy Hanson’s first start at quarterback. Their ten points came off a long trick play and a muffed punt which led to a field goal. With the final stretch of their season on the horizon, the offense will need to improve if the Scouts want to reach the six win mark and earn an automatic playoff bid. Lake Forest has looked strong on the defensive side of the ball all season long and that trend will likely continue past this weekend. Senior defensive back Eddie Scheidler commented on the importance of these final games: “After last week’s loss, we worked super hard in practice to clean things up defensively and get back to playing the way we know we can. This, and every other week down the stretch, is extremely important to get us to the playoffs.”
Key Storylines:
- Lake Forest Taking Care of Business
- The Scouts are heavily favored in this contest and will likely be tempted to look past the Bulldogs. It’ll be important for them to come out with a road win to keep playoff chances high.
- An End to the Scouts Offensive Struggles
- Warren and Waukegan’s defense could not be much further apart. Coach Spagnoli’s team will need to use this game to tune up and fix their offensive lapses with conference-deciding games down the road.
The contest kicks off at 1:30 PM on Weiss Field at Waukegan High School. With four games left, each one will be pivotal in the conference race as well as in the playoff hunt.
