At long last, Round Lake outlasts North Chicago

It was a hard-fought battle between visiting Round Lake and North Chicago in a North Suburban Prairie Division game Thursday night.

The game had a little bit of everything, and in the end, Round Lake had its second victory 31-26, overcoming two lightning delays.

Round Lake trailed 26-19 midway through the fourth quarter, but the Panthers and specifically Chris Perry would not be denied.

Perry rushed for 63 yards, including a touchdown from 17 yards out, to pull the Panthers within 26-25 with 5:30 left. Perry finished with 141 yards on the ground.

Then what followed was one of the most bizarre sequences of the night. On a third down for North Chicago, the referees blew the play dead for an inadvertent whistle, giving the Warhawks additional plays to run the clock. But the Panthers held and forced a punt.

That gave Round Lake the ball with 2:15 left. Starting at their own 25, the Panthers marched three plays. Ron Steadman launched a pass down the left sideline to Angel Martinez, who hauled it in and raced past a defender and into the end zone from 52 yards out with 1:27 on the clock.

Round Lake then held on to improve to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the NSC Prairie North Chicago fell to 0-6 and 0-4.

Round Lake's Omar Soto returned the opening kickoff 67 yards for a touchdown.

North Chicago Jamero Shelton had a 98-yard punt return for a TD and threw 2 touchdown passes.

Steadman also threw a 52-yard TD pass to Nathan Gonzalez. Steadman had a 1-yard touchdown run as well.