Lake Zurich vs. WWS: Class 7A championship preview
Class 7A state championship
Lake Zurich Bears (12-1) vs. Wheaton Warrenville South Tigers (13-0)
When: 4 p.m. today
Where: Memorial Stadium, University of Illinois, Champaign
TV, radio: WPWR-TV, Channel 50; Comcast Network 100, Channel 100 (cable only); WRLR, 98.3 FM
Internet: www.FoxHiLitesChicago.com (Streaming video)
Tickets: $10 for single-day tickets, which includes admission to state championship games in Class 5A (10 a.m.), 6A (1 p.m.), 7A and 8A (7 p.m.)
Tracking the Bears to Champaign: Lake Zurich lost its season opener to Fremd (27-20), but has rolled ever since. In the playoffs, the Bears, who earned a fourth seed, got wins over Wheeling (30-15), Rolling Meadows (10-7), Rockford Boylan (28-17) in the quarterfinals and Carmel (17-7) last week in the semifinals.
Tracking the Tigers to Champaign: Wheaton Warrenville South stormed through the regular season without a loss. In the playoffs, the Tigers, who earned a No. 1 seed, got wins over St. Laurence (41-0), St. Rita (26-22), Morgan Park (24-0) in the quarterfinals and East St. Louis (26-0) last week in the semifinals.
Lake Zurich playoff history: This is Lake Zurich's second consecutive appearance in the Class 7A state championship game. Last year, the Bears lost to St. Rita, 35-21 in the program's first-ever trip to Champaign. Overall, Lake Zurich has earned 11 berths in the state playoffs, including six straight. The Bears have advanced past the first round only three times: this year, last year and in 1995, when they lost to Bolingbrook in the second round.
Wheaton Warrenville South playoff history: This is Wheaton Warrenville South's second consecutive appearance in a state championship game. Last year, the Tigers were up in Class 8A and won the state championship, defeating Mt. Carmel 44-21. They slipped down a class this year due to the multiplier that has pushed some of the Catholic schools up a class. Overall, Wheaton Warrenville South has earned 19 playoff berths, including four when the school was known as Wheaton Central (up until 1991). Since 1988, the Tigers have won five state championships, finished as the state runners-up twice, advanced past the first round 17 times and have missed the playoffs just once -- in 2002.
Coaches: Bryan Stortz, Lake Zurich (24-3, 2 years); Ron Muhitch, Wheaton Warrenville South (61-13, 6 years)
Lake Zurich's key players: RB Jon Janus (1,034 yards rushing, 10 TD), RB/P Adam Simpson (774 yards, 12 TD), FB Dan Kalcsics (777 yards, 7 TD), QB Bobby DeLeo (1,274 yards passing (62-128), 8 TD), WR Pat Gallagher (536 yards, 3 TD), LB Tyler LaFontaine (76 tackles), LB Brent Marks (81 tackles), DL John Brewer (59 tackles), FS/K Kevin Johnson (7-of-10 FG, 37 long).
Wheaton Warrenville South's key players: QB Mike Piatkowski (1,998 yards passing (148-238), 22 TD), RB Francis Adarkwa (866 rushing yards, 13 TD), HB Peter Jarrett (704 yards, 10 TD), WR Chris Schweighardt (668 receiving yards, 9 TD), WR Mike Sloboda (584 receiving yards, 7 TD), OL Will Matte (committed to Indiana), DE Phil Traynor (9 sacks), LB Mark La Belle (122 tackles), LB Sam Burke (71 tackles), K/P Dan Conroy (8-11 FG, 43 long, 40.3 yards per punt)
Bears by the numbers: Lake Zurich is averaging 31 points per game and allowing just 7.8 points per game for a 23.2-point average margin of victory. The Bears have also posted three shutouts. In terms of yardage, Lake Zurich has gained a total of 4,773 yards (3,474 rushing, 1,299 passing). Interestingly, the Bears had no passing yards against Carmel last week.
Tigers by the numbers: Wheaton Warrenville South is averaging 30 points per game and allowing just 10.6 points per game for a 19.4-point average margin of victory. The Tigers have also posted four shutouts, including two straight. In terms of yardage, Wheaton Warrenville South has gained a total of 3,937 yards (1,923 rushing, 2,014 passing).
Stortz's scouting notes: "Wheaton Warrenville South is as balanced a team as we've seen all year. They spread the ball around to many different players so you can't try to take away one guy. They do a lot of shifting and give a lot of different looks to try to confuse defenses. But we expect them to come out and throw the ball quite a bit against us."
Muhitch's scouting notes: "Lake Zurich has made us work really hard this week in practice because of all the different types of things they do offensively. Their offense is similar to what we saw in Naperville North, but even Naperville North doesn't run the double wing as consistently as Lake Zurich. It takes a lot more preparation and a lot more repetition to get ready to play a team like Lake Zurich. They have so many options. They've got three big threats at running back in Janus, Simpson and Kalcsics. Defensively, they're strong. They are tight in their formations and schemes to the line of scrimmage and that makes the running game difficult. Their defensive speed and quickness kind of resembles ours."
Keys to the game: Lake Zurich needs to take care of the ball. In its last two games, the Bears have fumbled the ball away three times and have thrown 2 interceptions. "We can't have any crucial turnovers," Stortz said. "We've dodged a few bullets in recent weeks. Wheaton Warrenville South is the kind of team that will capitalize on mistakes like that. We've also got to be balanced. We didn't have any completions (and only 4 passing attempts) last week (against Carmel). You're probably going to see us pass in this game."...Wheaton Warrenville South will definitely pass the ball. The Tigers are a well-balanced team, but seem to lean toward the passing game. "Lake Zurich is so strong against the run that I think it's going to take a great quarterback effort on our part to combat what they do," Muhitch said. "I think our quarterback (Mike Piatkowski) is up for the challenge. He's a very underrated kid. He's thrown for close to 2,000 yards and completed 64 percent of his passes without a real burner at wide receiver. He makes great decisions for us."
Roll 'em up: Lake Zurich, which claimed its first North Suburban Conference Lake Division title this year, has won 12 straight games. Wheaton Warrenville South has won 27 straight games and three straight DuPage Valley Conference titles.
Conference call: There isn't a tougher football conference in Illinois than the DuPage Valley. At least not this year. Five of the leagues eight teams earned berths into the playoffs and three are still alive to this day. That's right, three DuPage Valley teams made it to Champaign. Besides Wheaton Warrenville South, Glenbard North and Naperville North are also gunning for a state title today. They'll play each other at 7 p.m. in the Class 8A game.
The braintrust: 209 years. That's the combined number of years of head coaching experience of the 16 coaches involved in the eight state championship games in Champaign. That's an average of 13 years per coach. Of course, Lake Zurich's Bryan Stortz brought down the average a bit. He's the least tenured coach in only his second year. However, only two of the other 15 coaches have had more immediate success than Stortz, who is 2-for-2 in playing in state championship games. Mike Burzawa of Driscoll Catholic guided his team to state titles in his first two years (2005 and 2006) and was playing for a state title late Friday night. George Dergo of Morris got a state championship in 2005, his rookie season.
Four-sided: A win by Wheaton Warrenville South would give the program a state title in four different classes. The Tigers won the 5A title in 1992, 6A titles in 1995, 1996 and 1998 and the 8A title in 2006.
Injury update: Lake Zurich is banged up -- Jon Janus (shoulder, knee), Adam Simpson (groin) and LB Dylan Becker (knee), among others, are all playing through pain -- but should have everyone available. Wheaton Warrenville South gets Francis Adarkwa back this week. The team's top running back suffered an MCL strain in the first week of the playoffs and has been out since. Peter Jarrett aptly filled in for him and the two should split time today. The Tigers will be without lineman Rahil Shermohamed, who suffered an ACL tear in his knee in the quarterfinal victory over Morgan Park. Junior Jeff Schuman was inserted into the lineup and has helped the defense stay on track. Last week, Schuman got a sack and a safety.
Final word: Lake Zurich and Wheaton Warrenville South have arrived at this state championship game from different mindsets. The Bears have been the hunters and the Tigers have been the hunted ... The Bears have played the season with a sense of urgency because they were desperate to return downstate to take care of unfinished business. "Our kids have been looking forward to this challenge," Stortz said. "And I can see a difference in the attitude. Last year, the whole experience was new. This year, the kids are more confident, better prepared. They just have a different mentality. I can see it in the way they practice. They are very focused on what they need to do." ... Meanwhile, the Tigers have experienced the rigors of trying to defend a state title with a huge target on their backs. "The hardest thing this season has been that everyone wanted to play their best game against us, and it's not easy getting up every week for a challenge like that. It's hard to endure a team's best effort every week," Muhitch said. "We've had that target on our backs. Sometimes, it feels like defending a title can be more difficult than getting it. But when push came to shove, our players handled it and have responded very well."