Scouting Lake Zurich at Prospect
No. 5 Lake Zurich (9-1) at No. 4 Prospect (9-1)
When: 7 p.m. Saturday at George Gattas Stadium
First-round results: Lake Zurich d. No. 12 Jacobs 41-7; Prospect d. No. 13 Rockford Guilford 54-14
Playoff history: Lake Zurich is making its 14th appearance and ninth straight. It reached the 7A semifinals last year and has made four quarterfinal trips. Prospect is making its 13th trip and sixth straight and has made five trips to the quarters.
Matchup history: Prospect won 41-18 in the 2002 semifinals and 24-15 in the 2005 first round en route to the last two of its three 7A state titles. Lake Zurich won 17-3 in the 2006 semifinals and finished second. Lake Zurich also won four straight season openers (1993-96).
Outlook: If history holds then does the winner end up in Champaign in three weeks? That's what transpired in the first three playoff matchups and this time both are considered threats to get there. Lake Zurich's only loss was by a point to unbeaten Stevenson on the game's final play and Prospect's only loss was to 9-1 York in the opener. Lake Zurich RB Jacob Brinlee (1,195 yards, 12 TDs) broke the school's career rushing mark last week held by Mike Stumpp, QB Zach Till is a running and throwing threat and FB John Mularz rushed for 142 yards and 2 TDs last week with starter Mike Shield (414 yards, 8 TDs) out with a sprained ankle. "I certainly wouldn't say they're one-dimensional," said Prospect coach Brent Pearlman. "It's not a case where you can say we'll just put 11 guys in the box and stop the run." Lake Zurich runs its traditional 3-5-3 defense fueled by standout LB J.J. Raffelson (12 sacks, 10 tackles for loss) and DE Kiah McGee (4½ sacks, 7 TFL) sand will try to slow the Knights' prolific offense led by QB Steve Dazzo (1,454 yards rushing, 23 TDs; 1,107 passing, 11 TD, 5 INT), RB-S Peter Bonahoom (1,012 yards, 9 TDs; 6 INTs) and RB-LB Grant DePalma (399 yards, 7 TDs). "Traditionally they've played really good defense and they're playing really good defense this year," Pearlman said. "You can see when they play their defense they believe in it."
Advancement: Lake Zurich would travel to Simeon (10-0) or host Schaumburg (8-2) in a quarterfinal. Prospect would travel to face the winner.