Takeaways help Stevenson, Vernon Hills thrive this season
Stevenson and Vernon Hills are not only both 4-0 and two of the best teams in the North Suburban Conference, they've also been winning games in similar fashion.
Both teams score when they are supposed to on offense - and they also score when the opposing offense is supposed to.
Stevenson and Vernon Hills have made a habit this season of forcing turnovers and then capitalizing by putting unexpected points on the board.
Vernon Hills has forced 12 turnovers, while Stevenson is just behind with 11.
"Our turnover ratio is solidly in the plus range and I think that is a huge statistic for our team," said Stevenson coach Bill McNamara said. "To be forcing basically 3 turnovers a game is quite a lot at this level. I think it says a lot about our defense. Our defensive coordinator, Josh Hjorth, gives us a great game plan every week."
The Patriots, who have been feeding off the pressure put on opposing quarterbacks by linemen Mike Crowley, Maxx Wujcik, Mike Kuhn and Quentin Lorenzo, are allowing just 8.5 points per game.
Vernon Hills has been bullet-proof thus far, not surrendering a single point in four games.
On the season, Vernon Hills has picked off 8 passes and recovered 4 fumbles. Three interceptions have been returned for touchdowns, thanks to DaVaris Daniels, Evan Spence and Grady Skeoch.
Skeoch got his last week in a 60-0 win over Round Lake.
"Part of the reason we've been executing so well on offense is that we're getting a lot of help from our defense," said Cougars coach Tony Monken, whose team has never had this many turnovers so early in the season. "We're getting great field position because of all the turnovers they're forcing. We don't have to go far (to score)."
Just for kicks: In a victory over Chicago Raby in Week 2, Vernon Hills scored 9 touchdowns ... and missed 9 extra points.
The writing was on the wall after that game that the Cougars needed to address their kicking situation, but there was no quick fix.
"The next week (in a 47-0 victory over Lakes), we scored 7 touchdowns and went for 2-point conversions on 6 of them," Cougars coach Tony Monken said. "But we scored on only 2 of the conversions. We knew we needed to find a reliable kicker for extra points."
So Monken did what many football coaches do when they are in desperate need of a strong, accurate leg. They scout the soccer team.
Little did Monken know that his best option would be a freshman - who had never kicked a football before. But so far, Jeremy Cohen has shown promise. He connected on 4 of 8 extra points last week against Round Lake.
"He's really coming along," Monken said. "He's got a nice leg and he's very accurate. He's on the varsity soccer team and still playing for them, but he'll be able to make our games, too."
Strong Sequoits: How strong are Antioch's offensive linemen?
Perhaps as strong as the running backs they block for are fast. And Antioch boasts a lightning-quick backfield in Vinnie Holm, Josh Guadarrama and Sam Green, who rolled up 374 yards and 4 quick, first-half touchdowns last week against Grant.
"Strength-wise, this might be the strongest offensive line we've ever had," Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said. "These guys have set school records in squat and bench. They were all weight-room addicts this summer and some of them really transformed their bodies."
The Sequoits also flexed their muscles outside of the weight room.
Part of a 7-on-7 summer camp Antioch attended at Richmond-Burton High School included an offensive-lineman challenge.
Antioch's linemen, including Nick Dampf, Lee Shannon, Adrean Buster, Ryan Christy, Brian Read and Connor Chelmecki, faced off against linemen from 10 other schools in activities such as tug-of-war, obstacle course, sled races, tractor tire flips and bench and squat lifts.
"Like for the bench press, they put 205 pounds on the bar and you had to keep track of how many reps each lineman could do and you added them all together and that was your score," Glashagel said. "Our guys got 66 reps and I think the second-place team was at like 40. Our guys did a great job and you can see how their strength helps us in every game."
Risk vs. reward: The spread offense can be fast and exciting and explosive.
But it can also be risky.
Libertyville coach Randy Kuceyeski can vouch for both scenarios.
His team has had a problem with turnovers all season and hit a low point last week in a loss to Lake Forest when the Wildcats surrendered the ball five times, once on a fumble and four times on interceptions.
"We just need to take care of the ball better and we'll be fine," Kuceyeski said.
The Wildcats could be better than fine, because when they do hang onto the ball their spread offense is almost unstoppable.
Despite the 5 turnovers, Libertyville still rolled up 572 total yards against the Scouts.
Quarterback A.J. Schurr has been so prolific at his high points that he has set school records in passing yards in back-to-back games with 370 yards against Mundelein and 423 yards against Lake Forest.
At this rate, Schurr's favorite target - receiver Jeremy Birck - could also find his name prominently in the school's record books. He already has 35 receptions and 10 touchdowns.
"This is a high-risk offense, and we knew that going into the season," said Kuceyeski, who dropped his traditional Wing-T offense to go with the spread in order to fully take advantage of Schurr's many talents. "But we're moving the ball well a lot of the time."
Plan B: Most football coaches labor over their weekly game plans, and they don't like to see their players stray off course.
Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz used to be that way, too. Then he discovered how wonderful audibles can be.
Stortz says that a big reason his team is 4-0 is that his quarterback, Zach Till, isn't always going by the book.
"Zach is very football savvy," Stortz said. "He understands what we're doing, he gets things right away. And he's able to analyze defenses quickly.
"We started giving him some options to run a different play than what we call if the situation calls for it. He has maybe three or four plays he can go with where it's totally up to him at the line."
The audibles have made the Lake Zurich offense more unpredictable and much more difficult to defend.
"A defense can line up and basically say to you, 'No, you're not going to run a certain play,'" Stortz said. "And if I just sent in that play, Zach can call a different one right there on the line based on how the defense is lined up.
"We try to keep it as basic as possible, and we don't have a lot of different (audible) plays. But it's worked really well so far. I wish I would have been doing this in the past. I just don't think I was there yet, comfort-wise."
Goad for him: As Warren's fastest player, Matt Goad gives Warren all kinds of options on defense.
As a sophomore last year, he led the team in tackles as a linebacker. This year, coach Dave Mohapp moved Goad to free safety because he could cover a lot of ground.
But after four weeks, Goad will be moving back to linebacker to give the Blue Devils more strength in the middle.
"We just felt that we wanted to do everything we can do get the most out of Matt Goad," Mohapp said. "He's such a great athlete and he's so fast and he was doing a great job as our centerfielder as a free safety. But we think he can do even more for us at linebacker. That's kind of his natural position anyway."
History lesson: Part of the reason Grayslake North is off to its best start in history (3-1) is - more history.
The Knights have already picked off more passes this season than in any of their previous four seasons. In fact, Grayslake North's 9 interceptions in 2010 are nearly more than its previous four seasons combined.
In school history, the Knights had tallied a total of 10 interceptions prior to this season.
"That's been huge for us," Grayslake North coach Steve Wood said. "We've been doing a great job with our pass defense, creating turnovers and that's given our offense a lot of extra chances."
Kurtis Boyd leads the Knights with 4 interceptions, while Jake Geary has 3.
"Those guys are ballhawks," Wood said. "Part of it, too, is that our guys up front, like Steve Sass, Jack Becker and David Anderson, are getting a lot of pressure on the quarterback. Sometimes we've rushed only those three guys and still gotten pressure. That has allowed us to drop eight guys back into coverage and that really puts a lot of pressure on a quarterback."
Book buddies: During last week's home game against Dundee-Crown, Grayslake North held a book drive for the elementary schools in the district.
If the Knights could have had a point for every book -
More than 300 books were collected.
The Knights, who visit nearby Avon Elementary each Friday to read to the children, collected books at a game for the first time last year. That drive was a success and this year's drive topped that.
"Anyone who brought a book got a free bag of popcorn," Grayslake North coach Steve Wood said. "It was a great event. Our kids really wanted to do it to add on to the reading they do each week at the grade school.
"They love doing that. They're like celebrities there. All the kids are asking them for their autographs and they love to see the kids and read to them. It's a great way for us to be involved in the community."
Ins and outs: Warren got some good news in the personnel department this week while Antioch and Lake Zurich weren't so lucky.
Senior wide receiver Kendell Harris is due to return to the Blue Devils' lineup next week after suffering a broken leg during preseason practice.
"He was just running and slipped in the grass during a drill," Warren coach Dave Mohapp said. "It was his lower leg and not the weight-bearing bone. So that was good. He's been going through all of the rehab and it looks like he's ready.
"That's good news for us because Kendell is a really good player. He's a good athlete, he can run and jump and he has good hands. He'll be a good weapon for us that will really add to our passing game."
Lake Zurich will be without the services of starting senior running back Jon Mularz for 2-3 more weeks because of a knee injury.
He was hurt in a drill last week and did not play in the Bears' Week 4 victory over Zion-Benton.
Antioch running back Josh Guadarrama will also be out for the next two weeks. After missing the first two weeks of the season because of an off-field incident in the off-season, he will be serving a two-game suspension for breaking the team's code of conduct after Antioch's big win over Grant last weekend.