Stevenson gets it going in right direction

Even the cheers from the stands weren't convincing enough.

Luc Peilet knew that something good was happening, given how loud and deliriously excited the fans from Stevenson were getting. Yet, he still couldn't bear to look.

Too nervous.

Peilet's stomach was in knots as the Stevenson offense was trying to drive more than 90 yards last Saturday at Lake Forest with only 71 seconds to work with.

Peilet, a starting linebacker for the Patriots, and the rest of the defense had just left the field after coming up with an amazing stand inside the red zone.

Lake Forest had four shots at the end zone but came up empty, which kept Stevenson's deficit at 3 points.

"During that last drive, I was just behind everyone on the sideline, kind of blocked off," said Peilet, a senior who leads the team in tackles. "I just listened to the crowd. I was dying to know what was happening, but I couldn't watch."

It's been that kind of season for the Patriots, who wound up getting a 14-10 victory in a way that seems to suit them. Do-or-die plays and nerve-wracking, cover-your-eyes moments have practically been a weekly occurrence for this team.

Then again, that's pretty much the status quo for any football team that begins the season with an 0-3 record.

It frequently takes a 6-3 record to qualify for the state football playoffs in Illinois, although a 5-4 mark occasionally gets some teams in if they have enough playoff points.

With three straight losses to Loyola, Glenbrook South and Lake Zurich, the Patriots had left themselves very little room for error. And they were just a third of the way into their nine-game season.

"Those losses hurt -- even though they were to good teams," said Peilet, who finally saw the ending to the Lake Forest game during the team's film session on Monday. "When you're 0-3, the feeling before every single game from then on is 'We absolutely have to win this game. We can't afford not to.' "

Not if the Patriots wanted to leave no doubt about their playoff fate. Over their last six games, they would need to go 6-0.

Talk about pressure.

Except that's only the half of it.

Stevenson hasn't missed the playoffs since 1988, which adds up to 18 straight playoff appearances.

That streak is one of the longest in the state -- and longer than some players on the team have been alive.

You'd better believe no one wants to mess with that.

"We don't want to be the team that blows it," Peilet said.

So far, the Patriots are doing their best to steer clear. Counting the Lake Forest victory, they've won four games in a row to improve to 4-3.

They're still on pace to reach that coveted 6-win plateau, which makes tonight's mega-tilt against Libertyville even more significant than usual.

The game is always a big one because Stevenson and Libertyville are longtime rivals that are, year in and year out, two of the best teams in the North Suburban Conference.

But this year, Stevenson is fighting for its playoff life -- and ironically, so is Libertyville, which is also 4-3.

"You know it's just going to be a really great game," senior wide receiver Dan Morales said. "The rivalry is just indescribable. And the added factor of us both needing to win is going to be big."

Speaking of big, Morales came up huge in the Lake Forest victory.

During that last drive, he caught a 50-yard pass and then a cover-your-eyes 21-yard pass on fourth-and-6 from quarterback Zach Wujcik.

The topper came when he then hauled in a 4-yard pass in the end zone to give the Patriots a touchdown -- and the victory.

"That was probably the best game of my life," Morales said. "The way that Lake Forest game ended ... it was almost a moment of disbelief. I was sitting on the bus with Zach (Wujcik) and we were having trouble realizing what just happened. We kept telling each other that we couldn't believe what we just did. It was a crazy feeling."

But the Patriots, whose celebration was limited mostly to the bus, didn't lose their heads over it. In fact, they've remained cool-headed all season, despite all the pressures that surround them.

Peilet chalks it up to the positive feedback they continued to receive from their coaches. He says they never once lost faith.

"It was strange for us to be in that position at the beginning of the season," said Stevenson coach Bill Mitz, whose 25-year tenure had never included an 0-3 start until this season. "But we weren't going to push the panic button. We knew we had played three very good teams. And it's really where you're at at the end of the season anyway.

"We just want to finish strong so that we can keep this (playoff berth) tradition going. Everyone thinks it's so easy to do year in and year out, and this goes to show you that it's really not."

Ironically, success hasn't come easily for Peilet or Morales either.

They may be two of the better players on the team now, but they both got their starts in modest fashion -- on the Freshman B team. They were vastly undersized and inexperienced.

Morales, now 6-foot-2, was barely pushing 5-foot-7 as a freshman and didn't really start growing until last year.

"I had always been a small kid, so size was always a question for me," Morales said. "When I was a freshman, I could have never predicted this (success). Once I started growing, I had to work pretty hard in the weight room to fill out and grow into my body."

Peilet has been a weight room junkie, too.

He had never played football before he tried out as a freshman, and has gained nearly 60 pounds since then.

"I was into soccer," Peilet said. "I really like the physical aspect of sports so what better sport to play than football. I tried it and I fell in love with it.

"It's hard to believe my career is almost over. I'm trying to cherish everything that's left."

Particularly the stuff he can't bear to watch.