Antioch 38, Round Lake 24
On a night Round Lake celebrated its homecoming and had fireworks at halftime, it was visiting Antioch that stole the show with fireworks of its own. Junior Tyler Woolard picked up a key interception and sophomore running back Steve Lorenzini (30 carries, 182 yards) rushed for 3 touchdowns.
Antioch junior Cameron White (13 carries, 92 yards) rushed for 2 touchdowns and quarterback Matt Romania had one other as the Sequoits outlasted the Panthers 38-24 in a North Suburban Prairie Division game in Round Lake on Friday night.
"We were worried about (Round Lake)," Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said. "Those kids just don't give up, and they play hard."
The Sequoits (3-3, 1-2) have plenty of toughness and fight themselves. They didn't let the Panthers (1-5, 0-3) take the lead.
Round Lake trailed 26-18 early fourth quarter and was driving. But Woolard stopped the drive with a pick early in the fourth quarter at the Panthers' 32 and returned it to the 15.
"I saw it coming straight to me and no one was around me," said Woolard of his first interception of the season. "Alex Pechauer all week was telling me that I was going to get an interception. I seem to always get a touchdown against Round Lake. I didn't get a touchdown this time. But the offense was able to get a touchdown after that."
Three plays later, Lorenzini found the end zone on a 5-yard scamper and gave Antioch a 32-18 lead with 11:18 left.
"He's a horse and that's why he's on varsity," Glashagel said. "He'll run through a brick wall, if we ask him too.
"We just turned it over to him, once we got a push from the offensive line."
Round Lake tried to mount a comeback as it got a rushing touchdown from sophomore Cameron Gillespie from 1 yard out which cut the lead to 32-24 with 7:31 left.
But the Sequoits' White closed the door with 1:29 left on a 1-yard touchdown run.
"We always get close, but we let it slip through our fingers again," Round Lake coach Doug Moss said. "We did have 3 turnovers and two big kicks that really hurt. We just didn't run the ball that well."
Panthers senior running back Ray Bryant was limited to 10 carries and 18 yards. An injured ankle from last week's game against Vernon Hills limited him to about one half of play.
Gillespie played most of the second half and had 15 carries for 95 yards and also had a second touchdown run of 30 yards.
Senior Jerome Brown delivered an electrifying 85-yard kick off return for a score in the second quarter.