Grant 29, Lakes 0

Grant's defense finally dominated Friday night, as the Bulldogs remained undefeated with a 29-0 shutout of host Lakes in a North Suburban Conference Prairie Division football game.

Grant (4-0, 2-0) held Lakes to only 153 rushing yards, 25 passing yards and allowed only 6 first downs.

"We put the clamps on their offense when we needed to," said Grant coach Kurt Rous, whose veteran defense pitched its first shutout. "This was a great team victory in which special teams were outstanding, our offensive line was awesome and our defense did well enough to hold the shutout."

The Bulldogs defense caused 5 fumbles and had 5 sacks.

Lakes quarterbacks Randy Ratajczyk and Justin Hotle were held to a combined 40 passing yards.

In the beginning of the second quarter, senior defensive end Bobby Madlener recovered a fumble and returned it 63 yards for Grant's second touchdown.

"I just picked it up and it was a long run," said Madlener, who scored his first varsity touchdown.

Grant's offensive line created holes for its runners, as Israel Rodriguez led the way with 72 rushing yards and quarterback Pavel Zurkowski rushed for 62.

Lakes' defense did a good job of stopping Grant's passing attack, as it allowed only 2 completed passes for 25 yards, while also intercepting a pass. The Eagles also had 3 sacks.

Senior running back Josh Gaido led Lakes with 47 rushing yards.

"It was a tough loss, but it's not going to bring us down," Gaido said. "Penalties and not playing up to our full potential really hurt us."

Also for Lakes (1-3, 0-2), Brent Gruber contributed 42 yards on 4 carries and Ratajczyk contributed 38 rushing yards.

Rodriguez put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard on the very first possession of the game. He capped a 54-yard drive by punching the ball into the end zone from 2 yards out.

After Madlener scored his touchdown, Zurkowski threw a 17-yard TD pass to Tommy Bychowski to make the score 22-0 with 1:46 left in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs completed their scoring midway through the third quarter as Joe Loris (44 yards rushing) capped another long drive from 18 yards out.

"We played a good team that played a good game, and we didn't play a real good game," Lakes coach Luke Mertens said. "We made a lot of mistakes and (Grant) scored on them."