Tubek, Lakes have Antioch's number
Andrew Tubek wears No. 23 on his Lakes jersey, but by the end of Friday night football game you couldn't see his number at all.
It was hard to miss him on the field, thought.
Tubek was stomping up and down it seemingly at will, rushing for a career-best 25 carries for 239 yards and 3 touchdowns. Tubek scored on runs 11 and 45 yards and caught a 5-yard TD pass.
He eclipsed the 200-yard mark for the second time this year and went over the century mark for the season with 1,037 yards in 8 games.
"I think it's the blocking, and when I see the hole, I'm gone," said Tubek who knows has 18 touchdowns and is 1 away from Sean Hertz's career mark. "It was one of my best nights and the playoffs were on the line."
Lakes became playoff eligible with the victory over Antioch 38-22 in a North Suburban Prairie Division game in Lake Villa.
The Eagles are 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the Lake, while the Sequoits fall to 4-4 and 2-3.
"This was a huge win, because we were playing for the state playoffs," said Lakes coach Luke Mertens, whose team plays at Wauconda next week. "Now we work for the sixth win.
"We really didn't care who we played - we needed the fifth one bad."
Lakes soared away from Antioch, breaking a 10-10 tie and scoring 28 unanswered points to lead 38-10 by the end of the third quarter.
"I thought we did a great job in the second half," Mertens said. "Every game we've played, we've done a great job in the second half.
"I stressed to the guys we've got to come out with a little fire the first three quarters. I felt confident with the way we've played with a good second half."
Tubek started the breakaway on a scamper of 45 yards with 6:45 left second qaurter for a 17-10 advantage..
Tubek again found the end zone from 11 yards out with 10:33 left third quarter, making it 24-10.
Willis Massie recovered a fumble for the Eagles at the Antioch 25-yard line. Three plays later, Taylor Swindle caught a tipped pass from Mike Hibbing (8-for-12, 93 yards and 3 TD passes) for a 22 yard-touchdown. That was followed by Ryan Noon reaching the end zone on a 15-yard run for the 28-point lead.
The Eagles also got a 35-yard field from Mike Beckman.
Antioch's Vinnie Holm connected for a 25-yard field goal and rushed for touchdowns of 13 and 15 yards. Alex Prather caught the other Sequiots score on a 17-yard TD pass from Tom Sears.
Antioch's Josh Guadarrama rushed for 142 yards on 22 carries; Steve Lorenzini didn't play in the second half because of neck spasms.
"Lakes got rolling and we couldn't stop them," Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said. "We couldn't stop their back. We haven't had anybody run on us like that in (muddy) conditions. We were banged up and we're losing guys left and right."