Stevenson 45, Zion-Benton 14

After failing to slay any part of a state-ranked three-headed monster to open the season, Stevenson welcomed a mere mortal to Lincolnshire with open arms Friday night.

Taking advantage of four first-half turnovers by Zion-Benton -- three coming on its first 12 plays -- the Patriots routed the Zee-Bees 45-14 to get their initial win of 2007.

"The first three games were against great teams, and we knew throughout the whole thing that we were a great team," said senior linebacker Lucas Peilet, who had a sack and an interception. "It just feels good to get that first win. Now we've got to keep it going."

While the Stevenson offense was a little slow getting into gear, the defense bought them some time, holding Zion-Benton (1-3) to just 18 yards on its first 16 plays.

"Our mentality on defense is to always stress turnovers and that's what we tried to do tonight," said Peilet, whose defense limited the Zee-Bees to 68 yards of total offense in the first half. "We try to get 3 turnovers a game: that's our goal. We've just been improving every week."

After senior Steve Haynes (10 carries, 44 yards) got the Patriots on the board with a 14-yard run with 5:12 left in the first quarter, Stevenson broke the game open in the second quarter. On their first play with the wind at their backs, the Patriots went up top and junior quarterback Zach Wujcik hit senior Daniel Morales in stride up the left sideline for a 45-yard touchdown and Stevenson was on its way to a 28-0 lead at the half.

"We saw something in their defense and we knew we could go deep on them," said Wujcik, who also threw a 6-yard touchdown to John Vravick in the second quarter and completed a pair of two-point conversions to the senior back. "We were just looking for the right time to do it."

Sophomore Mark Weissman led the Patriots with 18 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown, while Kevin Moffat (12 carries, 42 yards) added touchdowns from 13 yards and 8 yards to help ease Stevenson into the win column.

"We just had too many mistakes that kept us in a hole," said Zion-Benton senior quarterback Anthony Scott, whose team committed nine penalties for 61 yards in the first half alone and trailed 38-0 with eight minutes left in the game. "We didn't execute right away, and they executed when we didn't."

After coming off the bench and throwing for 35 yards in the first half, Scott found a rhythm after halftime, finishing 17-of-26 for 250 yards and 2 touchdowns.

But the Zee-Bees managed just 36 yards rushing on 24 carries, while Stevenson grinded out 169 yards on 45 carries.

"We definitely learned a lot (during those first three games)," Wujcik said. "To play better competition is just going to make us better later in the season."