Stevenson gets tough, knocks off Libertyville

Taking after " The Terminator," who is now "The Governator" of California, Thomas McGovern should probably be called "The McGovernator" from here on out.

Because like The Terminator, a cyborg assassin in the popular 1984 sci-fi film who was intent on exterminating the human race, The McGovernator and his buddies on Stevenson's defensive line sucked the life right out of Libertyville's offense on Friday night.

Recording 3 sacks and multiple hurries in the second half alone, The McGovernator helped host Stevenson roll to a 36-22 North Suburban Conference Lake Division homecoming victory that would have been even more lopsided had Libertyville not scored a touchdown on Stevenson's reserves with two minutes remaining.

The victory keeps Stevenson spotless on the season at 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Lake Division. Libertyville, meanwhile, drops to 4-3 and 2-2 in the Lake.

"I was just in the right place at the right time," said The McGovernator, an unusually humble assassin whose 3 sacks was a season high. "Our defensive line is really good and we've improved so much through the year. It just shows you how hard we've been working. We just realized that we really needed to step up in the second half, especially after what happened in the first half."

The Patriots were expecting to ride momentum into the halftime break after following a Libertyville touchdown with a quick touchdown of their own with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter.

The Wildcats had taken their first lead of the game when quarterback A.J. Schurr scored from 1-yard out at the 2:56 mark. But Stevenson moved swiftly on its next series and covered 68 yards in about a minute. The Patriots' 9-play drive was capped by a 7-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kevin Earl to fullback Mark Weisman.

That put Stevenson up 14-12.

But Libertyville wasn't done yet.

Schurr got the Wildcats into field goal range with a 39-yard pass to Eric Andrews and Miles Herbert nailed a 33-yarder with 10 seconds left to send Libertyville into the locker room with a 15-14 lead.

It was the first time this season Stevenson didn't own a halftime lead.

"The first half went exactly the way we thought we could play against them," Libertyville coach Randy Kuceyeski said. "But it was a tale of two halves."

After what was described as a lively halftime "chat" during halftime, Stevenson shifted into overdrive for the third quarter.

Led by The McGovernator, the defense stifled Libertyville while the offense ticked off three unanswered touchdowns - a 21-yard run by Weisman (27 carries, 187 yards), a 17-yard run by Matt Harris and a 31-yard pass from Earl (8-for-14, 142 yards) to Nate Johnson. Heading into the fourth quarter, Stevenson sat on a cushy 36-15 lead.

"Our guys came out firing," said Harris, who rushed for 95 yards on 14 carries and scored 2 touchdowns. "We talked at halftime about who wanted it more. It's our homecoming. We stepped it up. We didn't want to lose, especially to Libertyville, on homecoming."

With 12 yards lost on sacks, the Wildcats rushed for only 12 yards in the second half. And without a 77-yard touchdown from Schurr to Andrews (7 catches 228 yards) with 2:04 remaining, Libertyville would have netted only 38 total yards in the second half.

"It was probably the most pressure I've felt all season," said a weary Schurr, who spent most of the second half running for his life but still wound up with good numbers (10-of-19, 249 yards). "They did a really good job of disguising their blitzes and mixing things up.

"Going into halftime, we felt pretty confident having put up that field goal, but just something wasn't clicking in the second half. They were blitzing, they were pinning their ears back on offense and running the ball really well and we didn't have an answer."

Stevenson got its answer after being thoroughly questioned about heart at halftime.

"I can't repeat exactly what I said," Stevenson coach Bill Mitz said of his halftime "chat." "But it was basically that we had to play with more fire. And we did. (Libertyville) woke a sleeping giant."