Scouting Lake Forest at Stevenson

Lake Forest (4-0, 2-0) at Stevenson (4-0, 2-0)

When: 7:30 p.m., today

Last week: Lake Forest def. Libertyville, 55-37; Stevenson def. Mundelein, 42-0.

Skinny: Stevenson lost its perennially successful coach over the off-season in the retired Bill Mitz while Lake Forest said goodbye to a wildly successful quarterback in Tommy Rees, who is now playing on the football team at the University of Notre Dame. And yet, neither program has shown signs of a slowdown. In fact, both Lake Forest and Stevenson are still undefeated. New Stevenson head coach Bill McNamara has the Patriots winning by an average of 29 points per game while Lake Forest has found two dangerous quarterbacks (Paul Carollo and Jordan Beck) and an elusive running back (Owen Williams) to pick up its slack. "It's not a surprise to us that Lake Forest is doing as well as it's doing," McNamara said. "When the juniors and seniors on the team were freshmen and sophomores, they played really tough and had a lot of success. They're just building on that success."-Last week against Libertyville, the Scouts rolled up 548 total yards, including 421 on the ground. Williams was a one-man wrecking crew with 274 yards (on 18 carries) himself. "Lake Forest has a lot more balance this year," McNamara said. "Their running game is very tough. They've got a lot of speed back there and they run very well in the open field." - But Stevenson's defense, anchored by leading tackler Brion Wood, is also known for its quickness. The Patriots haven't given much ground, and also haven't given up many points. They're allowing just 8.5 points per game-Meanwhile, the Stevenson offense is scoring in bunches, and is just like Lake Forest: balanced. Quarterback Kevin Earl has passed for 7 touchdowns and 554 yards this season, while Joe Cassata leads a three-headed rushing attack that includes two other speedy runners in Kevin Foley and Nathan Kahn. Cassata tops the bunch in yards with 482. "I've been real pleased with our balance on offense," McNamara said. "We can run when we need to run, but we have weapons at wide receiver who allow Kevin to really throw the ball well. I think this is going to be a great atmosphere against Lake Forest with both of us being 4-0."