Antioch, Lakes ready for big North Suburban Conference game

Antioch Sequoits (2-0) at Lakes Eagles (0-2)

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Last week: Lakes lost to Highland Park, 21-14; Antioch def. Moline, 30-6.

Skinny: This is always a big game in Lake County, and not just because these two schools are sister schools from the same district.

In recent years, Lakes and Antioch have maintained two of the best football programs in the North Suburban Conference. Either Lakes or Antioch has won each of the last four NSC Prairie Division titles, with Lakes taking three.

"I love big games like this," Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said. "I'm on edge all week before this game. The whole area will be tuned into this game. This is why you do it."

Glashagel says that Lakes' 0-2 start means nothing other than what it means for the Eagles' motivation.

"They've played two really good, playoff-caliber teams (Grayslake North and Highland Park) and they had a chance to win both of those games," Glashagel said. "I think what it means is that we're going to get everything Lakes has because they don't want to go 0-3. That's a tough hole to get out of. So emotionally, playbook-wise, they are going to come at us with everything they have. We've talked to our guys about that."

Antioch might be undefeated, but it has come at somewhat of an expense.

Starting quarterback Danny Meade, last year's starter, is out indefinitely with an ankle injury.

He threw an interception last week against Moline and was chasing down the player who intercepted him and stepped wrong as he met up with that player along the sideline. U

nfortunately for the Sequoits, backup quarterback Brandon Galimore, also a cornerback, injured his collarbone in the season opener against Tremper. He's not due back for another two weeks.

So Antioch will be starting its sophomore quarterback, John Petty. Petty is an elite athlete though.

The son of baseball head coach Paul Petty, John Petty earned a starting spot on the varsity baseball team last spring as a freshman.

"He's a great athlete, and he knows the plays so well," Glashagel said of Petty. "He's been taking reps all week and looks great."

With the quarterback situation a bit in flux for Antioch, even more of the offensive load lands on the shoulders of star running back Griffin Hill. He's already rushed for 256 yards and 5 touchdowns this season.

"The way we've been winning games is that we're running the ball well," Glashagel said. "We're also sound on special teams and we're playing outstanding defense. We're creating turnovers and scoring off those turnovers either directly or indirectly."

In its first two games, the Antioch defense has created 6 turnovers, and Antioch has scored every time.

Lakes quarterback Jordan Mercure has opened the season with two strong performances.

He rolled up 246 passing yards and 3 passing touchdowns against Grayslake North. Last week, he finished with 198 passing yards and another passing touchdown.

Lucas Kuzmanovich has been his top target both weeks.

"Lakes does a lot of things well," Glashagel said. "They've got a really good defense and a nice quarterback. They run really good schemes for him. We've played great defense so far, but this is going to be a different challenge for us. We've played running teams and Lakes likes to spread you out and do a lot of passes. That will be different for us, different from what we've seen so far."