Libertyville picks up a 'W'
An 0-3 start to the 2008 season was about all the Libertyville football team could stand.
And after jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead over visiting Zion-Benton, the Wildcats were pretty impressive in a 35-14 North Suburban Conference Lake Division victory Friday night.
The Wildcats (1-3, 1-1) got on the scoreboard first when junior Bryan Dickson intercepted a T.J. Trepanier pass near the left sideline to give Libertyville the ball on the Zion-Benton 26-yard-line.
A 23-yard run by junior James Zotto took the ball down to the 3 before senior teammate Nate Johnson scored on a 3-yard touchdown run on the next play. The extra point by Andy Sitz gave the Wildcats a 7-0 advantage just 32 seconds into the contest.
Zion-Benton (0-4, 0-1) went three and out on its next possession with Libertyville taking over at its own 47-yard-line.
Three plays later, quarterback Matt Persin hit Zotto on a quick slant pattern going from left to right as Zotto shook a late tackle before going into the end zone on the 50-yard scoring play. The extra point by Sitz made the score 14-0 with 8:02 left in the opening quarter.
While the Wildcats did not score for the remainder of the first half, their defense came up with a huge goal line stand at the end of the second quarter as the Zee-Bees put together a quick 98-yard drive.
A 50-yard pass from Trepanier to Cerellis Lockett gave Zion-Benton a first-and-goal at the 1, but that was as far as the Zee-Bees got.
A keeper and another runing play went for no yards and were followed by a minus 1-yard keeper as time was running out on Zion-Benton. Then with just a few ticks left on the clock, Trepanier was stopped cold again at the 1-yard-line and Libertyville maintained its 14-0 lead at halftime.
"The momentum shifted right there and we came out in the second half and did what we do best which is run the football," said Libertyville coach Randy Kuceyeski. "I'm happy for this football team and this staff. It's been a hard month, and they deserve it."
Leading 21-7 and starting at its own 31, Libertyville went 69 yards on 11 plays with a 3-yard run by Nick McDowell capping the scoring drive.
Zion-Benton cut the gap to 28-14 when Robert Serdar hauled in a 35-yard TD pass with 6:22 to play, but the Wildcats scored on a 1-yard TD run by McDowell to close out the scoring with 50 seconds to play.
"We had a lot of kids injured, but our players stepped up in their roles," said Johnson. "Our first three games we played really good competition, and we just wanted to prove we were a good team."
Persin threw for 114 yards in one half of play while teammate Kevin Verlee led the rushing attack with 72 yards on 11 carries. Trepanier threw for 215 yards while Moton ran for 120 yards on only 4 attempts.