Rain, mud no detriment McKenzie

There's no problem getting dirty on a rainy night. Maybe that was the plan - not to be seen.

Wauconda running back Colin McKenzie led the way on the ground, having a career night with 27 carries, 254 yards and 4 touchdown runs. Plus, on defense he added an interception.

By the end of the game, you can hardly see what number McKenzie was wearing (24) as Wauconda muddled past host Lakes 34-7 in a North Suburban Prairie Division opener in Lake Villa.

"We're mudders, and I'll take a rain every day," Wauconda coach Glen Kozlowski said. "We like to play in the mud. Our defense was great and we got a lot of turnovers."

Wauconda (2-1, 1-0) forced Lakes (1-2, 0-1) into 7 turnovers and took advantage scoring 26 unanswered points off 4 of them.

"That was it, if you turn the ball over and can't stop the run then you'll lose," Lakes coach Luke Mertens said. "We put our defense into horrible conditions. (Wauconda) had to play in the rain and they didn't turn the ball over. You can't use the rain as an excuse. You've got to do a better job of controlling the football."

McKenzie opened the scoring for the Bulldogs with 4:37 left in the opening quarter. McKenzie scored on a 14 yard run, and Garrett Dorsey added a 2-point conversion for an 8-0 lead.

"The line stepped up this week," McKenzie said. "I was confident with the way we could run the ball. The line was able to open up the holes. We were able to keep pounding the ball."

Lakes responded back for a moment and closed the margin to 8-7, when Jeremy Neuman (5 catches for 151 yards) caught an 85-yard touchdown pass from Justin Hotle (13 of 19 for 226 yards, 2 interceptions) with 2:58 left.

Momentum shifted when the turnovers started to happen. The Bulldogs' Mike Thomas recovered a muffed punt at the Eagles' 39-yard line Then two plays later, McKenzie scampered into the end zone on a 10-yard run and raised the lead to 15-7 with 1:10 left in the opening quarter.

McKenzie picked off a pass early in the second quarter at the Lakes 34 and followed up two plays later scoring on an 8-yard run, which gave Wauconda a 22-7 lead with 9:07 remaining in the second quarter.

Then Bulldogs' quarterback Dorsey added a 3-yard score before the half, and McKenzie scored his fourth touchdown in the third quarter from 5 yards for the difference.