Lake Zurich 33, Lake Forest 0
Speedy Dan Kalcsics sped to the outside and was angled out of bounds by a defender at midfield. As he reached the sideline, right in front of all his Lake Zurich football teammates, Kalcsics lowered his shoulder and sent his would-be tackler flying backward.
The ringing hit -- by the offensive player -- was followed by a roar from the home crowd.
"You know when he's running because you can hear things cracking," Jon Janus, smiling and marveling, said of his teammate. "He makes me just want to hit somebody."
Kalcsics and his teammates made noise all night Friday, piling up 362 yards on the ground against a good Lake Forest defense, as Lake Zurich cruised 33-0 for its seventh straight win.
The victory allowed the Bears to clinch a share of the North Suburban Conference Lake Division title. Lake Zurich (7-1, 5-0) will win the division crown outright with a victory at Mundelein next Friday.
Lake Forest (5-3, 2-3), which had allowed only 62 points in its first seven games, suffered its third straight loss.
"I think their speed is outstanding," Scouts coach Chuck Spagnoli said of the Bears. "I thought they played really well defensively. Offensively, we couldn't keep our defense off the field in the first half and it just made it hard for our team."
With running back/linebacker Janus playing sparingly after hyper-extending his knee the previous week against Wauconda, Kalcsics was Lake Zurich's workhorse in the offensive backfield.
He carried 20 times for 135 yards -- both season highs -- and scored a pair of touchdowns. He ran behind Justin Murray, Tyler Uhl, John Gage, Chris Blair and Steve Midday.
"Found the weakness in (Lake Forest's) defense," said Kalcsics, who missed three games this season with mono. "The offensive line blocked great and opened holes."
While Kalcsics possesses 4.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash and has probably the fastest straight-ahead speed on the team, Janus said, his running style is more that of a fullback.
"Normally I just try to run straight ahead," Kalcsics said. "I'm trying to work on my moves a little bit -- my vision, find the holes. But ever since I've been a running back, I've just tried to truck kids."
Touchdown runs of 2 yards by Adam Simpson, 8 yards by Janus and 11 by Kalcsics had Lake Zurich up 21-0 at halftime.
Kalcsics busted off a 30-yard TD run midway through the fourth quarter, breaking what looked like a sure tackle around the 15.
"He's like a bulldozer," Janus said. "He just puts his head down and chucks kids."
Junior running back Kyle Williams finished the scoring with a 95-yard run late in the game. As a sophomore two years ago, Simpson had a 97-yard TD run.
Lake Forest linebacker Miles Smith suffered an apparent ankle injury on the fourth play from scrimmage and did not return. Scouts quarterback Tom Rees completed 16 of 32 passes for 171 yards. Wide receiver Kevin Finney had 8 catches for 80 yards.
Lake Forest visits Libertyville next Friday night, still needing one win to clinch a playoff berth. Even with another loss, the Scouts could get in as an at-large team.
"We need it to get into the playoffs," Spagnoli said. "It's going to be an important game for us."