Lake Park rolls as Livingston hits 100

Sixteen years in the making.

That's how long it took Lake Park football coach Andy Livingston to notch career victory No. 100 as a head coach at the varsity level.

He hit triple digits Friday night in Roselle, and the milestone came with little stress as Livingston's Lancers built a 42-0 lead at the outset of the third quarter, finishing the night with a 42-7 Upstate Eight Conference victory over Streamwood.

"It's phenomenal because he's been here for a while, and he's just the greatest coach and the nicest guy in the world," Lake Park running back Artie Monaco said. "Our team is totally honored to get that 100th win for him."

Monaco played a big role in helping Livingston get to 100, scoring the Lancers first touchdown on a 1-yard plunge with 1:06 to go in the first quarter. The 5-9 senior struck again just 3:25 later, somehow escaping a gang of would-be Streamwood (1-3, 0-2 UEC) tacklers for a 63-yard punt return score.

"I love the open field. I'm an open field runner, and once I see holes left and right, I shoot them," Monaco said. "If there's nothing there, I cut back and hope for the best blocking."

Lake Park's (3-1, 2-0 UEC) special teams made a major contribution for the second week in a row. In addition to Monaco's punt-return, senior running back Clay Cooper returned a Sabres kickoff 87 yards untouched for the Lancers' third special teams score in two weeks.

"It was absolutely perfect, perfect blocking," Cooper said. "That's exactly what we wanted to do right there. We executed perfectly; perfect timing on everything."

Chance favored Lake Park all game, even when plays appeared over. On a first-and-10 from the Streamwood 17-yard line, Cooper rushed up the middle of the field, only to be stopped by a pile of Sabres defensemen. Rather than going down in an attempt to save yardage, Cooper pitch the ball back to quarterback Larry Nawrot, who bolted along the left sideline for a 25-yard touchdown and a 28-0 lead.

"I kept getting pushed back, and all of a sudden I look out of the corner of my eye and I see my buddy Larry," a smiling Cooper said. "I just said 'catch,' and he just took off. It was just an instinct right there."

"It was a crazy play," Nawrot said. "He just handed me the ball, and I didn't know how I was going to get there. It felt like it took forever."