Walding boosts Lake Zurich

The end of the JV soccer season meant Scott Walding spent more time during the week kicking footballs for Lake Zurich's football team.

Which might have explained his confidence with the game on the line Friday night.

Walding's 31-yard field with 1 second left gave Lake Zurich a 17-14 win over host Lake Forest in the teams' regular-season finale.

Lake Zurich's third victory in a row hiked its record to 8-1 and gave the Bears a 5-1 mark in the North Suburban Lake Division, good for second place behind undefeated Stevenson.

Lake Forest fell to 6-3 and finished 3-3 in the NSC Lake.

"Both teams had a lot to play for," Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz said. "(Lake Forest) is sitting at 6-2 (coming in), and it really helps their playoff situation if they go in 7-2. For us, going in 8-1 is a lot better than going in 7-2. So I think both teams were out here treating it like it was a playoff game. You could just tell by the level of intensity. All kids on both sides played hard."

Walding wasn't about to take credit for his game-winning kick, which capped a 13-play drive after the Bears took possession at their own 11 with 4:05 left.

After Jacob Brinlee, who returned from a one-week absence with an ankle injury to rush for 164 yards on 23 carries, was stopped for 1-yard gain on third-and-5 from the 15, Lake Zurich called timeout with 4 seconds remaining.

Enter Walding, whose clutch kick had the Bears jumping with excitement.

"My team did all the hard work," Walding said. "It was a great snap, great hold, great drive. I just did my part for the team."

Lake Zurich has used Walding, Ed Szarkowicz and Mike Leiva to kick field goals and extra points this season. Walding won the place-kicking job in practice during the week.

"He's been the most accurate at practice the last couple of weeks, so you go with the guy that's hot at the time," Stortz said. "That's what we decided to do."

"I just beat (the other kickers) out this week," Walding said. "Next week could be a different story. ... No position is for sure, 100 percent."

So was he nervous before his game-winning field goal try?

"I honestly had nothing going through my head at all," Walding said with a laugh.

Lake Zurich's defense held Scouts running back Owen Williams to 64 rushing yards on 16 carries. Lake Forest's go-ahead touchdown with 26 seconds left in the first half came after Tommy Kinzer of the Scouts recovered a muffed punt at the Lake Zurich 14.

Quarterback P.J. Carollo had both of Lake Forest's TDs, on runs of 1 and 4 yards.

"We just went out there and played four quarters of football, and got it done," said Lake Zurich defensive end Kiah McGee, who had 2 tackles for loss and a tipped pass.