Cats expecting victory, get it in 13-6 win

Five turnovers and a sixth grandchild. Not a bad night for Libertyville football coach Randy Kuceyeski.

Minutes before his team took the field for its season opener against visiting Barrington Friday night, Kuceyeski got the kind of news that every parent loves.

His daughter found out earlier in the day that she was pregnant with her third child — and his sixth grandchild.

The team chaplain, who was tipped off by Kuceyeski’s wife Martha, delivered the surprise news to Kuceyeski during his pregame talk to the team.

“I was surprised,” Kuceyeski said of the timing of the announcement — and its contents. “But that’s news I’ll take anytime.”

So is news of a victory. And the Wildcats got one later in the evening, 13-6, thanks to five forced turnovers by the defense.

Libertyville recovered three Barrington fumbles and intercepted junior quarterback Cody Seeger twice.

Yet, since the Barrington defense was on its game, too, Libertyville wasn’t able to decide the outcome until the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.

Senior running back Doug Houser followed up a clutch 17-yard gain with a 6-yard dash into the end zone to put the Wildcats up by a touchdown with 4:11 left to play.

“The defense won that game for us. They were terrific,” said Libertyville senior tight end Nik Ebert, who scored the first touchdown of the game. He hauled in a 10-yard pass from new quarterback Tom Piazzi in the first quarter. “(Barrington’s defense) threw us off a little bit in the first half. We were preparing for a different defense all summer and they switched it.

“They used to play a 3-5 and they switched over and brought a safety back to a two-safety look. We weren’t able to get any key blocks, but at halftime, we made adjustments.”

But the Barrington defense stayed strong. The Broncos shut out Libertyville in the third quarter while their kicker, Ryan Murach, managed to tie the game at 6-6.

He had hit a 28-yard field goal in the second quarter and then followed that up with a 20-yarder with 3:35 left in the third quarter.

Then things went south.

Of Barrington’s final four possessions, three ended in turnovers.

“The defense had some great plays,” said Libertyville junior linebacker Andrew Jones, who had a big play himself. During Barrington’s second-to-last possession of the game, he sacked Seeger on third down to force a punt. “It’s a team game and you have to get all the players to the ball. “And that’s what our defense did. Everyone was going 100 percent all the time. That’s what the coaches teach you.

“We executed, our offense scored twice, which is a great game for them, and we shut them out. No touchdowns.”

Ironically, Barrington significantly out-gained Libertyville in yardage. The Wildcats finished with 111 total yards while Barrington rolled up 281 yards. Seeger completed 13-of-22 passes for 134 yards.

“The defense rose to the occasion and kept us in it all night,” Kuceyeski said. “Offensively, we couldn’t get much going. We were able to cash in at the end and do what we had to do, but for the most part, we just sputtered on offense.”

In some ways, the Broncos can relate.

“The turnovers killed us,” Seeger said. “Half of them were my fault. I was worried about the blitz and I didn’t really catch a couple of the snaps. It’s a really hard loss for us, but the defense really kept us in the game.”