Lake Zurich's sack attack grounds Warren
NFL football games aren't typically considered educational programming.
But Lake Zurich linebacker JJ Raffelson was like a sponge Sunday night as he watched the Bears literally get pummeled by the New York Giants.
“Even when you're watching football on TV, you've got to learn, Raffelson said. “I watched that whole game and it definitely was a learning experience.
It was the Giants' defense that was doing the teaching.
They sacked Bears starting quarterback Jay Cutler nine times and the Bears a record 10 times overall.
Their techniques, their tactics, their swagger resonated with Raffelson, and less than a week later, he found himself playing with the same relentlessness.
On Friday night in Gurnee. Raffelson single-handedly put on a New York Giants-like sacking clinic by sacking Warren quarterback Bob Boesch five times.
Add in the fact that the rest of the defense wasn't in the mood to be the least bit generous and Lake Zurich wound up with a 14-0 North Suburban Conference Lake Division shutout over Warren.
The win moves Lake Zurich, which has given up just 59 points this season and is the stingiest defense in the Lake Division, to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the division. That's good for sole possession of second place in the standings, behind Stevenson.
Warren, meanwhile, drops to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Lake.
“I just read it, find the holes and go after it because that's my job, Raffelson said of the art of the sack. “The defensive line was making a clear path for me and I got through there today and was able to make some plays.
Make no mistake, Raffelson has been making plays on other days, too. Big ones.
He now has a whopping 12 sacks on the season, which already puts him in the top 35 in the IHSA record books. Head coach Bryan Stortz also believes Raffelson's season sack total is likely a school record as well.
“JJ did a great job, Stortz said. “Our defensive line did some stuff so we could get him coming free and he just ran them down and made some great plays. He tracked the quarterback down, took some great angles and pursued all the way through the whistle.
Boesch can vouch for that.
He hasn't seen harassment like he saw from Raffelson all season.
“They were blitzing a lot, Boesch said. “I had to settle up in the pocket and just try to make a play, but it really did work out too much.
“When you're being chased by like a 6-foot-4 guy (Raffelson) it's tough. He's a really good player, and he even showed a lot of good sportsmanship even after he'd hit me. He'd be like trying to help me get back up.
But it wasn't long before Boesch, or someone else from the Warren defense was being knocked back down, or stopped dead in their tracks altogether.
The Blue Devils gained just 141 yards off total offense.
Running back Nolan Sordyl had a team-high 85 rushing yards for Warren, but star fullback Tom Lindal finished with just 18 yards. He carried the ball only three times.
“They did a great job defensively, Warren coach Dave Mohapp said of Lake Zurich. “They took us out of everything we wanted to do. We weren't able to put anything together. Mistakes and the pressure from them took us out of it.
“But I did think our defense played hard.
The Warren defense turned in an effort similar to that of the Lake Zurich defense on all but two drives, and that's when the Bears scored their touchdowns.
On the opening drive of the game, Jacob Brinlee (game-high 114 rushing yards on 14 carries) scored on the Bears' seventh play when he sprinted to the end zone from 27 yards out.
Lake Zurich didn't score again until quarterback Zach Till punched in a 1-yard touchdown with 3:39 left in the game.
When the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Bears celebrated with their fans, which is what they thought they were going to be able to do last week, too.
Lake Zurich had a 6-point lead on Stevenson with 2 minutes to play. But Stevenson marched 80 yards down the field and scored with three seconds left to steal a 24-23 Week 6 victory and first place in the Lake Division standings.
“Last Friday night, we were all sad and moping around a bit, Raffelson said. “But we all kind of came together and said. ‘Guys, we'd rather lose now, in Week 6, than in the playoffs.' We ended up working harder in practice this last week than I've ever seen us work in the three years I've been here.
“That was a learning experience for us. We learned, and now we're back on the right track.