Nice season for Lake Zurich's Raffelson

If etiquette queen Emily Post handed out an award for football players, JJ Raffelson might get a nomination.

Not that football players necessarily want to be known for politeness and good manners, but Raffelson, Lake Zurich's starting middle linebacker, has kind of gotten that reputation.

For instance, he's the type of player who helps an opposing player to his feet when he needs a hand. Almost without fail.

Of course, Raffelson is often the reason that player is on the ground in the first place.

“If I get a tackle, I'm usually going to help the guy up,” Raffelson said. “That's just the way I am.”

It's a stark contrast. Almost an oxymoron.

Nice. Middle linebacker.

The words don't usually go together.

But the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Raffelson is proving he can be both.

“JJ is always smiling, he's just the kind of guy people want to be around,” said teammate and friend Jack Lynn, a wide receiver for the fifth-seeded Bears (10-1), who take on No. 1 and undefeated Simeon on Saturday (4 p.m.) in a Class 7A quarterfinal at Gately Stadium on Chicago's South Side.

“JJ always has a great attitude about everything,” Lynn continued. “He's always smiling. He's always putting everyone else first and himself second. JJ is just a really nice guy.”

But don't be fooled.

As soon as the football gets hiked, Raffelson is hardly sugary sweet and mindful of his manners.

He'll put a hit on you that former Chicago Bear Dick Butkus, another great middle linebacker and the furthest thing from an Emily Post protégé, would be proud of.

Sacks are Raffelson's specialty. He's got 13 on the season and had a school-record 5 sacks in one game, against Warren. With more than 80 total tackles on the season, a team best, Raffelson is a big reason the Bears have often won with defense.

Lake Zurich is allowing just 8.5 points per game, best in the North Suburban Lake Division and the second-best among all Class 7A playoff teams, behind Wheaton Warrenville South (7 ppg).

“We have a lot of good players on defense and we all know each other so well and we're all close,” said Raffelson, who has been starting on the varsity defense since his sophomore year and is currently being wooed by Western Illinois and several other colleges. “We've spent a lot of time playing together. A bunch of us have been playing football together since we first started as kids. And, over the years we haven't even had too many new kids come on so we've got a lot of consistency and good chemistry as a group.”

The Bears also have good leadership on defense.

Starting with Raffelson.

He not only calls out plays and directs his teammates, he's often setting the emotional tone for the defense. Mostly with some good-natured yelling and screaming.

“If I make a good play, I'll scream, I'll yell,” Raffelson said. “I'm not yelling at anybody, I'm not saying anything bad to anyone. I'm just yelling, trying to fire up myself and my teammates. You've got to play football with some emotion.

“I think that's my biggest (responsibility) as middle linebacker, to help with (the emotions of the game). If something bad happens, I try to make sure our guys don't hang their heads, that they keep their heads up. And when something good happens, I want to yell about it. I want to get excited about it.”

Raffelson's vocal cords took a beating during the Warren game, a 14-0 Week 7 victory.

Lake Zurich's defense completely shut down Warren, thanks in large part to Raffelson, who flew all over the field making plays. He was particularly relentless blitzing quarterback Bob Boesch. If Raffelson wasn't pulling Boesch down for one of his five sacks, he was rushing him into hasty and ill-advised decisions.

“That was just one of those games,” Lynn said with admiration. “JJ played great. He's been in the system for such a long time and he puts so much time in that, at the end of the day, he's just always getting the job done.”

Raffelson says that the Warren game was his best ever, and that if he had to choose, he'd take a five-sack game any day over an infinite amount of tackles.

“I just love getting sacks,” Raffelson said. “I love going after the quarterback. Whenever someone gets a sack, it gets everyone pumped up.”

Raffelson's father Jim leads the cheers, even though it probably makes him cringe just a bit every time he sees his son make a sack.

After all, Jim, after whom Raffelson is partially named, has a soft spot for quarterbacks. He was one in high school at Elk Grove. JJ, by the way, stands for Jimmy Joseph. Joseph is Raffelson's grandfather's name.

“I think he mostly likes seeing me get the sacks,” Raffelson said of his dad. “One of the things he's always telling me is to go after the ball because when you catch a quarterback by surprise on a blitz, he's often not ready to protect the ball and that's when you go after it.”

Raffelson also gets some great tips from watching films. He says he's become a much better student of the game this season.

“I've really gotten better at watching film and understanding what's happening on the field and where the holes for me will be,” Raffelson said. “As you get older, you kind of pick up on all those little tricks that help you make plays. I've learned some of those over the years.”

Raffelson seems to have learned a whole lot more than that.

How nice is that?

pbabcock@dailyherald.com