Game Preview: Lake Zurich Bears (5-0, 3-0) vs. Lake Forest Scouts (2-3, 0-3)

The Lake Zurich Bears football team this year, despite a year chock-full of turmoil and rumor, has been dominant. Due to the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur beginning on Friday night, the Lake Forest Scouts will play a rare Thursday night home game against the team that is currently on top of the conference. Lake Forest has really struggled in their past three games, but provided some hope to Scouts fans in the final three quarters of last weeks road game against the Libertyville Wildcats. Will this be the game everything turns around for the Scouts? If so, it has the makings to be the biggest upset the North Shore has seen in some time.

The Lake Zurich Bears have proven this season to be one of the best teams in the North Suburban Conference. Currently (5-0) overall and (3-0) in conference after escaping Gurnee with an overtime win over Warren a week ago, the Bears have dismantled teams such as Waukegan and Zion Benton, while also persevering in closer games, like against perennial state power Montini. They have players that are being recruited by teams as good as the Wisconsin Badgers, which isn’t surprising when you witness them on both sides of the football. All of this is being sculpted by first year head coach Luke Mertens, who came to LZ after a solid tenure at Lakes once longtime head coach David Proffitt was forced into resignation. After a disturbing hazing scandal put the Bears under fire last season forcing their head coach and another assistant to resign, Mertens, an English teacher, took the head coaching job in April and has not looked back. Needless to say, his short tenure has been a complete success and breath of fresh air for Lake Zurich.

The Lake Forest Scouts defense will need to be at their best in order to limit the Bears offense. In their first five games of the season, Lake Zurich has scored a combined total of 170 points, an average of 34 points per contest. Granted, some of those points have been scored off of pick-sixes and fumble recoveries, but regardless, that is a very impressive number for only five football games. It takes more than just a quarterback and a couple wide receivers to put up those numbers. Last week against Warren, senior wide receiver Payton Powell outperformed every wide receiver that stepped on the field, including Warren’s Notre Dame commit Micah Jones. At the end of the day, Powell racked up 206 yards with four touchdowns. The 5-11, 150 lb. emerging star is one of quarterback Evan Lewandowski’s favorite targets and will surely be a player to watch tonight. In addition, Joey Stutzman is one of Lake Zurich’s most striking players. Two weeks ago against Zion-Benton, Stutzman racked up a total of 98 yards and had the game winning touchdown in overtime last week against Warren. Compared to other schools in the NSC, Lake Zurich poses the biggest offensive threat perhaps with the exception of Warren. The scary thing is, their offense is not even the team’s best attribute.

There is no sugar coating it: Lake Zurich’s defense is the best in the NSC and is among the strongest in state. Before their game against Warren, their average points given up was only 4.0. The center of their defense is Jack Sanborn. The 6’2’’ senior announced last March that he was committing to the University of Wisconsin, a team that falls in the top 25 of the college football rankings and near the top of the Big Ten conference nearly every year. The inside linebacker will put plenty of pressure on a Scouts offense that has really struggled since the beginning of conference play. Two weeks ago against Zion-Benton, their defense racked up a eye-popping four interceptions, two of which turned into pick-sixes. Last week, their point per game allowed spiked upwards when the Bears met the Blue Devils of Warren in Gurnee. Warren forced overtime in last week’s game after the score was tied at 28 at the end of regulation.

The Scouts offense has had some really slow starts in recent games, but if they can get a couple scores early to put pressure on Sanborn and the rest of Lake Zurich’s highly touted defense, the Scouts will increase their chance of pulling off the upset.

The bottom line is this: Lake Zurich team will be the toughest opponent the Scouts face in the regular season. The Daily Herald has the Bears currently ranked #3 out of over 100 teams within the region. The Scouts will need to be at their sharpest to knock off the Lake Zurich Bears.

Despite their slow start in conference play, Lake Forest still has a chance to find themselves in postseason contention. The Scouts are currently tied for last in the NSC with Waukegan with an (0-3) record in NSC play.

There was no bright side after the Stevenson and Warren games as the Scouts put up only 7 points in two weeks. However, despite losing by double digits last week, there was something that gave Scouts fans hope after the Libertyville game concluded. The Wildcats set the tone in the first quarter by scoring 19 points, but after that, the Scouts bounced back to outscore them for the rest of the game. Lake Forest outscored Libertyville 10-7 in the remaining three quarters. A lot of that credit is due to junior running back Jacob Thomas who truly emerged in that game rushing for 131 yards on 24 carries. The Scouts seem to be improving as the games go on and, at some point, they will find themselves back in the left hand column. If Lake Forest wants to get back on the winning track this week, they will need to play to their potential on both sides of the ball as well as special teams.

The Lake Forest Scouts offense has had to play against some very tough defenses this season, but none of them have had the talent of Lake Zurich’s. The Bears have some very talented cornerbacks and safeties that are making interceptions at a near weekly clip. Part of that is because the lineman and linebackers a very solid and consistent at putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Scouts passing game will likely be somewhat limited tonight and will have to rely on players such as Jacob Thomas and Bryan Ooms to spread out and balance their offensive attack. Although the Bears’ defense is the best in conference, they do have their weaknesses and are not guaranteed to dismantle the opposition as Warren proved last week.

Lake Forest’s defense needs to come into this game expecting their offense to be limited and work on keeping the Scouts in the game as long as possible. In order to defeat Lake Zurich, the defense needs to hold them below 25 points. Having faced Warren, Stevenson, and Libertyville’s high caliber offenses, they should be prepared for the Lake Zurich offense. They have had a little less than a week to adjust the problems they had in their last contest and have hopefully corrected them. The biggest key for the Scouts’ defense is to prevent the scoring early. Spotting Lake Zurich 20 points in the first quarter is simply unacceptable tonight. They must give their offense a chance to take an early lead, and the only way that can happen is if they make stops on defense on early possessions. Otherwise, playing from behind could spell disaster from the Scouts.

This is the Scouts’ chance to turn their season around. Every player that steps on Varsity Field wearing blue and gold tonight needs to be playing their absolute best. Lake Forest also needs to get up early and set the tone for the night–something they have failed to do in the last three weeks. If all of that can happen, the game will be close. They need to reestablish their confidence overall as a team, and what better way to do so then beating one of the best high school football teams in the state.

Key Players:

Jacob Thomas: Thomas was substituted into last week’s game after Ooms was injured in the backfield. He impressed a lot of Scouts fans and is hoping to get more reps tonight, especially if the Scouts passing game will be limited.

John Deering: Deering needs to be the leader of the Scouts defense tonight. The captain and middle linebacker needs to help limit Lake Zurich’s running game and put pressure on their QB, especially early on in the contest.

Shannon Charleston: The front four for the Scouts need to be able to rush the QB with consistency. Charleston, perhaps the most athletic of the Scouts lineman, will be a key figure in that.

Jack Brush: Every time the Scouts get inside the Bears 30, they need points. Jack Brush’s right leg will ensure that the Scouts maximize their offensive output on the scoreboard.