Lakes overcomes another costly injury

Lakes sophomore Direll Clark supported himself on crutches, welcoming his victorious football teammates with a smile as they walked off their home field.

And so a big win in Lakes' program - a 14-7 decision over visiting Zion-Benton - came at the expense of another big injury Friday night.

Clark, a promising, 6-foot, 200-pound running back who had replaced starter James Zell, who missed his second straight game with a right knee injury, hurt his left ankle with three minutes left in the fourth quarter.

He had to be helped off the field.

"A helmet hit (the ankle) and I fell on it," said Clark, who was headed to the hospital after the game for further tests on his wounded ankle.

"You lose Zell, you lose Direll ... why not?" said Lakes coach Luke Mertens, whose team also played without starting offensive guards Ty Summers and Nate Pomorin.

The Eagles didn't lose the game, though, improving to 4-1 with their first win in a North Suburban Conference crossover in six years of trying. They were 0-5 against the Lake Division coming into the game.

"It's a huge deal," Mertens said. "We have gotten our butts kicked in these crossover games so it's nice to finally get one."

Lakes lineman John Pfeiffer led a defensive effort that held Zion-Benton (0-5) to 25 rushing yards and just 140 total yards of offense.

Pfeiffer - whose kid brother Michael scored Lakes' first touchdown on a 2-yard run early in the second quarter that capped an 18-play, 72-yard drive - had 3 tackles for loss and a sack.

"He has a great motor (and is) physical," Mertens said of John Pfeiffer, noting the senior is considering Harvard, Yale and Penn. "He's very important to our defense because you have to account for him or run away from him. We're going to need that down the stretch, for sure."

John Pfeiffer got plenty of support from his defensive teammates, including Donte Arnold (interception), Alan Gomez, Brody Griffin, Dillon Falotico, Mike Forney and Steven Minkus (sack).

Lakes overcame 3 turnovers.

"It's a team game so one side has to pick up the slack for the other, if need be," John Pfeiffer said. "Everyone played great, but there's still things to fix and things to improve on."

Lakes took possession of the ball midway through the fourth quarter leading 7-0. The Eagles then kept handing off to Clark, who didn't play the first quarter after injuring his shoulder during practice Tuesday. Clark used to speed to gain the corner and carried tacklers trying to bring him down. But on his seventh carry of the drive, he hurt the ankle.

At that point, he was up to 99 rushing yards on 14 carries.

"My teammates told me, 'Keep pushing the ball, keep pushing, and you'll get your touchdown,' " Clark said. "I tried pushing, but my ankle messed up."

Lakes eventually scored when Mike Pfeiffer's fumble near the goal line was recovered by Mike Beckman in the end zone with 1:53 left.

Zion-Benton responded with an 11-play drive that quarterback Cole Urban capped with a 7-yard TD pass to Lucas Hemenway with 39 seconds to go.

But the ensuing onside kick was batted out of bounds and Lakes was credited with possession.

"Our defense won this game for us, without a doubt," Mertens said. "We put our defense in some horrible situations with turnovers and not getting first downs and field position."