Football / Lake County notes
Austin Swenson played football, basketball and baseball in high school.
Now that the former Wauconda star is down to one sport — football — he's showing what he can do at the college level.
Swenson put together a monster game for Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in a 74-68, triple-overtime win over Illinois College last Saturday night. The first-year starting quarterback was named the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference offensive player of the week after completing 37 of 60 passes for school records of 603 yards and 7 touchdowns.
It was the second time he received the honor in as many weeks. Rose-Hulman generated a program-record 824 yards of total offense. Swenson also rushed for 1 touchdown, as Rose-Hulman set an NCAA Division III record with 41 first downs.
His efforts were also mentioned on ESPN SportsCenter late Saturday night.
Rose-Hulman stands 2-0 on the season and returns to action with its HCAC opener at Hanover College on Saturday.
Balliu can do: Lakes senior wide receiver Jake Balliu had another busy night last Friday in the Eagles' 52-6 win over host Grant, catching 5 passes for 73 yards and rushing four times for 70 yards. He had a 45-yard touchdown run and caught a 15-yard TD throw from quarterback Jordan Mercure.
Balliu took snaps at quarterback late in the game. He was active on special teams, too, returning kicks and punts and holding for kicker Cody Brumm. Balliu also gets action at cornerback.
“The coaches grant me the opportunity and I'm going to give it my all,” the 5-foot-8 Balliu said. “But it's not an individual effort. It's a team effort, and we all go out and do our thing.”
Balliu has been doing his thing on the football field despite limited reps at certain positions. When Devyn Cedzidlo was out against Woodstock North in Week 2, Balliu stepped in at running back and stepped up.
“It speaks not only to his athleticism, but also his intelligence,” Lakes coach Luke Mertens said. “He doesn't practice all of those positions. He can't. It's impossible.”
Balliu embraces the challenges.
“I talk to Coach (Mertens) about everything, and I talk to other players who know a position better than me,” Balliu said. “And then I'll stay after practice and work with kicking coach (Ryan) Miles and Cody Brumm so we got that down. I'll work on three-step drops and work with Jordan Mercure running routes after practice just to make sure I got everything straight. It's a lot thrown at me, but I like it. It makes me think. I'm always ready to go.”
Getting their kicks with Brumm: Lakes' Eagles have a special weapon in senior kicker Cody Brumm, who's just about automatic on PATs. He also plays linebacker and running back.
Brumm became Lakes' all-time PAT leader against Grant last Friday night while going 7 of 7 on PAT kicks and drilling a 29-yard field goal. For his career, Brumm has 61 PATs, three more than former Eagle Mike Beckman.
The quote: Wauconda coach Dave Mills on Lake Forest, which handed the Bulldogs their first loss of the season, 37-14, last Friday night:
“Lake Forest was a fast team. Their team speed caused us problems.”
Wauconda visits another undefeated team Friday night, when it travels to two-time defending North Suburban Prairie Division champ Lakes.