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Sanborn's big plays power Lake Zurich

Lake Zurich junior linebacker Jack Sanborn is well aware of the history of the position he plays.

The linebacker spot at Lake Zurich has led to Division I players in Jack Lynn at Minnesota, and Colton Moskal at Syracuse, to name a couple of recent standouts.

One thing the past Bears greats have in common with this highly sought-after junior is that when the lights get brightest in the state playoffs, they have all shone a little brighter.

Sanborn got the chance to experience that until Friday night, as the Bears hosted Harlem in the opening round of the Class 7A state playoffs.

"Those guys all made deep, deep runs in the playoffs," Sanborn said. "That's where I am trying to lead this team."

And lead Sanborn did. His two touchdowns and two quarterback sacks - all in the first quarter - led an impressive 40-0 romp over the visiting Huskies. It's the Bears' first win in the playoffs since 2013, when they finished second in Class 7A. Harlem closed its year out at 6-4.

Lake Zurich will face the winner of Fenwick and Rockton Hononegah in Round 2 next weekend.

"My goal isn't to be better than the guys that were here before me," Sanborn said. "I'm trying to carry on the tradition of winning that these guys and that this program has had."

Lake Zurich (8-2) dipped into its bag of tricks early to take the lead for good. On fourth-and-10 at midfield, the Bears snapped the ball directly to Sanborn. It was a play they'd worked on for the last few weeks in practice, and once Sanborn was in the clear, the Huskies couldn't catch him. The 40-yard run gave Lake Zurich a 6-0 cushion early.

"We worked on that play for a while and I wanted to run it last week against Mundelein," Sanborn said. "The coaches didn't want to get it on tape so we saved it and I was a little surprised, actually, that we called it when we did."

The score opened the floodgates in the first quarter for the hosts. Lake Zurich put up points on each of its three first quarter possessions while Harlem had trouble moving the ball at all.

All-time school and NIC-10 conference leading rusher Brenton Shaw was limited to only 13 yards rushing on 11 carries and didn't have a run longer than 5 yards.

"(Lake Zurich) clogged up all the holes," Shaw said. "As soon as the ball was snapped it was like a cluster - nowhere to go."

The Bears' defense held Harlem to minus-16 yards of total offense and just 2 first downs on the night. Harlem never crossed its own 40 yard line.

"Ive always said your offense is part of your defense, and in our scheme of doing things that's important too," said Lake Zurich coach Dave Proffitt. "When our offense can do things like that it allows us to pin our ears back and come after teams on defense."

Sanborn added a 10-yard touchdown catch from Evan Lewandowski as the hosts built a 23-0 lead after one quarter and rolled to a 40-0 running clock before halftime.

Junior Joey Stutzman contributed mightily as well, rushing for a pair of scores and 120 yards on 13 carries. Ryan McGeever had the Bears other touchdown on a 1-yard run.

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