Lake Zurich 32, Mundelein 0
It may be lonely at the top, but Lake Zurich looked pretty comfortable in its North Suburban Conference football game at Mundelein Friday night.
The top-ranked IHSA team in Class 7A got off to a bit of a slow start against the Mustangs, but they would build a commanding 26-0 halftime lead before rolling to a 32-0 NSC Lake Division victory behind a high-powered offense.
A 74-yard touchdown run by senior running back Jon Janus got the Bears' offense going with 6:17 remaining in the first quarter before Lake Zurich (8-1, 6-0) would strike again early in the second quarter.
Dan Kalcsics took a pitch to the left from quarterback Bobby DeLeo and Kalcsics waltzed in for a 16-yard TD run as there was no one home on the Mundelein defense with 9:08 left in the first half.
Leading 12-0, Janus scored his second TD on a 9-yard run to the left before the extra point by teammate Dan Iwicki made the score 19-0 7:15 before the intermission.
Mundelein (3-6, 1-5) was unable to sustain a drive on its next possession as the Bears took over on the Mustangs' 48-yard-line.
Wide receiver Ricky Nicolay was a key player on the drive as he caught a 34-yard pass to take the ball to the 20-yard-line before Nicolay hauled in a 10-yard TD pass from DeLeo going over the middle for a 26-0 lead with 4:07 left in the second quarter.
Lake Zurich had one more chance for a TD before halftime as a 59-yard run by Kalcsics put the ball deep in Mundelein territory.
But the Bears had to settle for a 26-yard field goal attempt that fell short to keep the score at 26-0 at the break.
"Our kids played hard just like they do every week and I can't say enough about how well our coaching staff prepared the kids," said Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz, whose team won the Lake Divison outright. "I'm happy with the way the kids are responding to different situations in the middle of the game and the adjustments they're making."
After a scoreless third quarter, Lake Zurich's Andrew Maloney closed out the scoring with an 11-yard TD run with 10:50 to play.
Janus rushed for 129 yards on only 11 carries while Kalcsics gained 107 yards on 10 attempts. DeLeo was 5-for-11 passing for 148 yards.
"Being undefeated in conference is an awesome feeling and as of right now we're confident, but we're always going to take it one game at a time," Janus said. "It was an all-around effort by the team, and our defensive line stopped their run all night."
Jamal Ross led the Mustangs with 62 yards rushing on 28 carries, but overall there was very little running room for Mundelein in the contest.