Never-say-die Patriots rally for dramatic win
Nine yards away from Stevenson's end zone with less than two minutes left, Lake Forest couldn't resist the temptation to pass.
On third down.
On fourth down.
The Scouts, after all, do have wide receiver Kevin Finney, who has skyscraper size and locomotive speed.
But while a touchdown would have all but officially secured victory, the Scouts' refusal to run the ball and take valuable seconds off the clock put them in jeopardy of giving the visiting Patriots ample time to mount a game-winning drive.
Which is exactly what happened, despite the fact Stevenson was out of timeouts.
Zach Wujcik's 4-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Morales with 5.7 seconds left capped a nine-play, 90-yard drive, giving Stevenson an improbable 14-10 win that was nothing short of huge for the Patriots.
Prior to the Wujcik-Morales heroics, Stevenson hadn't led the entire game Saturday.
"They did us a favor by throwing down there," Patriots coach Bill Mitz said.
Stevenson, whose fourth straight win hiked its record to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the North Suburban Lake Division, still needs to win one of its two remaining games to have a shot at earning its 19th straight playoff appearance. The Patriots host Libertyville on Friday night and finish up at Warren.
"We definitely don't want to be known as the senior class to end this (playoff) streak that's been going on for years," Morales said. "Everyone just had a pretty bad half (Saturday), me especially. Then the coaches just fired us up at halftime and we came out with the pride and the fire."
Lake Forest (5-2, 2-2), which still needs to win one of its two remaining games against Lake Zurich and Libertyville to clinch a postseason spot, built a 10-0 lead in the second quarter thanks to John Cavalaris' 6-yard touchdown run and Steven Roth's 26-yard field goal.
Stevenson, which mustered just 59 yards of offense in the first half, scored on its opening series of the third quarter. Wujcik's 25-yard TD pass to Michael Bilton capped a 10-play drive that included Bilton's 13-yard gain on a fake punt and Wujcik's 17-yard pass to Morales on fourth-and-6.
While Lake Forest quarterback Tom Rees (22-of-31 passing, 195 yards) and the 6-foot-6 Finney were nickel-and-diming Stevenson to death, the Patriots' defense bore down when it had to.
"Luke led them," Morales said of Patriots linebacker Lucas Peilet.
A 15-play drive by the Scouts stalled at the Stevenson 2. When Lake Forest got the ball back with 5:10 left in the fourth, the Scouts marched from their own 26 to the Stevenson 9.
But back-to-back passes fell incomplete. On fourth down, Stevenson defensive back Scott Diamond broke up a pass intended for Finney in the end zone.
"It was all heart right there," Diamond said of his team's red-zone stops.
Finney had 12 catches for 124 yards.
"He's amazing," Diamond said. "Besides Bilton and 'D-Mo' (Morales), he's the best wide receiver in our conference."
"We ran a bootleg on third down," Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli explained. "We thought that the tight end might come open on it, and he didn't, so Tommy (Rees) hung on to it. He thought he had a chance to hit the fullback, and I think it went off his hands.
"Then on fourth down we went to our best guy and what we thought was our best route (a slant). We just didn't come up with it."
With 1:11 left, Wujcik (13-of-27 passing, 203 yards) completed a 50-yard pass to Morales. Four plays later, Morales caught a 21-yarder on fourth-and-6. The drama culminated when Morales went to his knees in the end zone to squeeze a Wujcik pass, setting off a wild celebration on the Stevenson sideline.
"I was just trying to find an open spot and Zach was just escaping pressure," said Morales, who had 7 catches for 157 yards. "He made a great scramble, threw a great ball and I just tried to get on the ground and secure it -- secure the victory."