Lake Zurich 55, Zion-Benton 6

Many times this football season, defense has been the story for Lake Zurich.

Heading into the Bears' North Suburban Lake tilt with visiting Zion-Benton on Friday, the defense had allowed only 16 points in its last four contests and just 1 touchdown came against LZ's first-string defense.

Friday night, though, the Lake Zurich offense stole the show.

The Bears rolled up over 400 yards and 55 points in the first half against the visiting Zee-Bees as they rolled to an impressive 55-6 win. With its fifth straight triumph, Lake Zurich stayed perfect in the Lake Division at 4-0, 5-1 overall; Zion dropped to 1-5, 0-4.

"We cut out of practice early (Thursday) because we weren't executing on offense, but the kids stayed behind and did the work," Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz said. "It doesn't matter who we play. It is always going to be about us and getting better and executing better."

There was no problem with the execution of the Bears' offense Friday night. But the area in which they excelled came as a surprise.

Quarterback Bobby DeLeo attacked the Zee-Bees through the air, and it paid dividends early and often.

DeLeo was more than efficient in the first half, completing 7 of 9 passes for 233 yards and 3 scores.

"We wanted to open the passing game up and give other teams something to look out for," DeLeo said. "When teams come up and try and stuff the run, we want to show we can throw it some."

The first of DeLeo's three scoring passes went to senior Jon Janus. He took a perfect pass up the seam and raced 61 yards for the score and a 14-0 lead. It was the second of four scores on the night for Janus, making him the first to do accomplish that at Lake Zurich since Chris Redding did it in 2002 against Crystal Lake Central.

"Chris was the epitome of the perfect kid," Janus said. "He is the guy that got Lake Zurich football out there, and to be mentioned in the same breath as him is everything to me."

Janus added a 7-yard touchdown run and a 52-yard score late in the second quarter. His last touchdown gave Janus 117 yards rushing on only 6 carries.

Senior Adam Simpson continued his climb up the school record books with his 5-yard score early in the second quarter. He then moved into second place on the all-time list for points scored when he took a screen pass from DeLeo and sprinted 83 yards for a TD.

And yes, the Bears' defense was pretty good, too.

LZ held the Zee-bees to negative-10 yards offense in the first quarter and even got into the scoring act when Kevin Johnson picked off a Z-B pass and sprinted 65 yards for the final Bears points.