Williams, Lake Forest tame Libertyville
A year ago, when Lake Forest would get into shootouts with opponents, the passing game of current Notre Dame freshman Tommy Rees was the reason for the scoring outburst.
This year, a more diverse Lake Forest offense is racking up the points and doing so with two quarterbacks and a running back that few outside the program had heard before this season.
After the performance by junior Owen Williams on Thursday night in the Scouts' home contest with Libertyville, it will be hard to ignore the unknown back any longer.
Williams was sensational, rushing for 272 yards on 18 carries and scoring three times to lead the Scouts to a wild 55-37 win over Libertyville.
"Owen was terrific tonight and he had great help from the offensive line too," said Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli. "He just works so hard, as do all of our kids, and I am proud of these guys for their effort tonight."
Lake Forest remains unbeaten at 4-0, 2-0 in the North Suburban Conference Lake Division. Libertyville slipped to 1-3, 0-1.
The Scouts needed everything Williams and senior quarterback Paul Carollo could muster up to hold off the high-flying Libertyville offense.
Senior quarterback AJ Schurr and senior wide out Jeremy Birck hooked up for three scores, including a 35-yarder to open the fourth quarter that brought the Wildcats within 42-30.
"We talked at halftime and AJ talked about mental toughness," Birck said. "We knew we had to come out and keep fighting and not give up."
For his efforts, Schurr had an up-and-down night. He completed 23 of 37 passes for a career best 433 yards and four scores. Unfortunately, the Lake Forest defense took the ball from Schurr four times, three coming from Scout senior Connor Cavalaris.
"We started to slow down some in the second half and we have to work on that to get ready for teams like Stevenson next week." "But this is a big win for us tonight and we keep pushing and are excited about playing Stevenson next week."
After the Wildcats cut into the margin with 10:23 to play, Williams and the Lake Forest offense wasted little time bumping the margin back to a more comfortable level.
Williams' 57-yard scoring run capped a brief four play drive that put Lake Forest back on top by a 48-30 margin. Libertyville scored even quicker with a little flair to go with it.
Schurr found Birck in the flat for 10 yards, then Brick flipped it to Jake Duguid on the hook and ladder and Duguid took it the rest of the way 52 yards for the score to pull Libertyville closer.
"We had this earlier this year against Barrington when we got close," said Libertyville coach Randy Kuceyeski. "We can score at will at times, we just had trouble stopping people and we saw that again tonight."