Lake Zurich back for more
It's the start of the football season, but the word "Finish" is being thrown around a lot at Lake Zurich.
The Bears mantra is to finish everything from drills to exercises to games to the season as a whole because they feel they ended last season with unfinished business.
Lake Zurich lost in the Class 7A semifinals to Glenbard West, 21-17. The Bears were just a few short plays away from experiencing a different fate...and a trip to Champaign.
"The way things ended kept the guys pretty hungry in the off-season," said Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz, whose team finished with a 9-4 record in 2009. "Everything we talk about now has to do with finishing. We want to finish everything we start."
The Bears will start and finish a lot of games this season with all-conference running back Jacob Brinlee, who rushed for 1,683 yards and 26 touchdowns last season. He is one of the best returning backs in Lake County.
"Jacob is a great athlete," Stortz said. "He's added some more weight and strength, but I think the biggest improvement he's made in the off-season is in leadership.
"He's a really quiet kid, but I've heard him speaking out more. I've seen him smiling more, trying to be more involved. He's really embraced a leadership role."
Besides Brinlee, the Bears will also turn to Mike Shield and Jon Mularz in the running game. Shield is a returning starter and Mularz is back after a tough 2009 in which he suffered a bad ankle sprain early in the season and then was never able to get back to full speed.
The terrific trio will run behind an experienced offensive line that includes returning starters Mark Herman, Gus Coon, Steve Garcia and Mike Schnur.
"Running the ball has been our bread and butter the last four years and we'll be running the ball this year, too," Stortz said. "But it won't just be Jacob (Brinlee), we've got a lot of kids who can run the ball well. You saw that last year at the end of the year when a lot of teams were really keying in on Jacob and we had other guys step up and we still ran the ball well."
The Bears' running backs may have to carry even more of the load early on this season as new quarterback Zach Till gets used to his very different role. He started at cornerback for the Bears last year.
"He took some reps last year as our backup quarterback," Stortz said of Till. "He performed well there and the other kids saw that so they have a lot of confidence in Zach.
"Zach is very cool-minded, but he's not afraid to get after it either. He can be very assertive and he is a very athletic quarterback who can run the ball but can also make very good decisions in the passing game."
Stortz said that a big target for Till will be returning wide receiver Jack Lynn.
Defensively, Lake Zurich returns seven starters, including linebackers JJ Raffelson, Danny Minogue, Mike Shield, Tim Sayre and Lynn as well as linemen Mark Tabaka and Kiah McGee.
The Bears gave up just 14.7 points per game last season, the second fewest in the North Suburban Lake Division.
"I think we'll be solid on defense again, too," Stortz said. "We've got a really good group of returning players and seniors on both offense and defense who all really want to help us continue our success."
LAKE ZURICH
Probable starters
OFFENSE
Pos. Name Ht/Wt Yr.
QB Zach Till 5-11/170 Jr.
RB Jacob Brinlee 5-10/170 Sr.
RB Mike Shield 5-11/170 Jr.
RB Jon Mularz 5-8/165 Sr.
WR Jack Lynn 6-3/205 Jr.
TE JJ Raffelson 6-3/215 Sr.
LT Mark Herman 6-0/215 Sr.
LG Gus Coon Sr.
C Steve Garcia Sr.
RG Mike Schnur 6-0/195 Sr.
RT Mike Palombo 5-10/185 Sr.
DEFENSE
Pos. Name Ht/Wt Yr.
DL Kia McGee 6-4/280 Sr.
DL Cody Cameron 6-5/215 Sr.
DL Mark Tabaka 6-3/220 Sr.
SS Danny Minogue 5-11/170 Sr.
LB Jack Lynn 6-3/205 Jr.
LB JJ Raffelson 6-3/215 Sr.
LB Taylor Coleman 6-0/200 Jr.
SS Mike Rantis 5-10/170 Jr.
CB Chris Rantis 5-10/170 Jr.
FS Mike Shield 5-11/175 Jr.
CB Grant Soucy Soph.