Scouting: Lake Park @ Elgin

Lake Park (3-1, 2-0) at Elgin (1-3-, 1-0)

When today at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Field

Last year Lake Park 43, Elgin 23

Last week Elgin 20, East Aurora 19; Lake Park 42, Streamwood 7

Outlook The Maroons notched their first victory of the season last week by taking a 20-0 lead and fending off a late challenge from East Aurora. The Lancers have dominated the last 10 meetings in this series. Since 1997, Lake Park has won 9 of 10 games between the Upstate Eight foes (the teams did not face one another in 2005 or 2006). Elgin junior running back Jordan Dean rushed 28 times for 254 yards last week, including scoring runs of 1, 58 and 68 yards. "Our line up front has been able to give him some seams, but the thing with Jordan is his vision," Maroons coach Dave Bierman said. "He's got great vision, and that's where the cutbacks come from. They'll be keying on him, I'm sure, but hopefully we can get him some yards. We have to throw the ball with some effectiveness, otherwise, Jordan's not going to have much success. We have to open it up a little bit to make them play honest, but we have to complete them if we're going to do that. The key is a little more balance." Lake Park averages 214 yards rushing per game, split between the effective trio of running backs Artie Monaco, Clay Cooper and Jake McNamara. Last week against Streamwood the elusive Monaco scored on a 63-yard punt return and Cooper notched an 87-yard kickoff return. The Lancers have scored 3 special teams touchdowns in their last two games. Lake Park's linebacking crew, led by third-year starter Ryan Gerts in the middle, is a team strength. "Their linebackers are good, so we have to get a hat on them and hopefully get it by them," Bierman said.