Big-play Lake Park subdues St. Charles East
After senior Tyler Smith's kickoff return 19 seconds before halftime, Lake Park easily could have sat on a 3-point lead against St. Charles East.
Instead, quarterback Zach Gehant threw a pass to Smith across midfield, and it turned into a 67-yard touchdown.
That was just one of the many big plays in the Lancers' 43-27 Upstate Eight Conference crossover victory Friday in Roselle to remain in the playoff hunt.
"My adrenaline was just up on that play. That was a great pass by Zach. It was all on the line," said Smith, who gave Lake Park (3-4) a 30-20 halftime advantage. "We knew it would open. (Lake Park coach Chris Roll) had confidence in us and said, 'Go ahead, do it.' (Blocks by) Kevin Teglia and Danny Sommers set me up for that."
LaCurt Evans' 81-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage set the tone for the Lake Park, which had 20 plays for double-digit yardage.
Evans rushed for 175 yards and 3 touchdowns. Smith followed Eric Ryan's 29-yard field goal with a 17-yard TD run to give Lake Park a 17-0 lead in the second quarter.
The Saints (1-6) fought back after beating Streamwood 49-34 the previous week by overcoming a 14-point deficit.
"They've been a second-half team all year," Roll said. "I'm still kind of upset over some of (our) carelessness but the effort, the hitting, some of the explosive plays ... I'm happy with that."
The Saints' Carter Reading responded to Smith's rushing TD with a 99-yard kickoff return. Lake Park answered with Evans' 25-yard TD run, but the Saints scored on quarterback Charlie Fisher's 1-yard run and 3-yard TD pass to Branden Slattery 20.2 seconds before halftime after Tim Leibforth's first of 2 interceptions, which he took to the Lake
Park 14.
Then came Smith's TD reception. In a similar situation two weeks ago, Roll sat on the ball.
"Two weeks later, I know we're a more confident team," Roll said. "I think they were surprised, too. I thought maybe we'd get to midfield and throw one up, but Tyler made a great play. He's a great kid."
St. Charles closed to 30-27 in the third quarter on a 7-yard pass from Fisher to Kyle Lanthier. Then the Lancers' defense went to work.
In the fourth quarter, Lake Park senior cornerback James Sowa made a diving interception at the Saints' 29 and Evans scored four plays later from 9 yards. Sowa then intercepted a tipped pass and returned it 11 yards for a touchdown with 2:04 left.
"They're a big-play team. They've got some great athletes," said St. Charles East coach Mike Fields, whose team was minus linebacker Joe Hoscheit (sprained ankle).
"I thought this was going to be another second-half game for us, and it just didn't work out that way, but I'm awfully proud of the kids. This wasn't about injuries. This wasn't one play that lost this game. It was just a smorgasboard of not being able to finish."