Football brethren buoy Lake Zurich

Football coaches like to speak of "the brotherhood."

In a sport that is grueling, taxing and punishing, they believe that the very best teams are built on a trust that is achieved only when teammates treat each other like family. Like brothers.

At Lake Zurich, the coaches got a head start on that idea this season.

Occasionally, I'll see a pair of brothers playing up on varsity together.

But I'm not sure if ever, in my 15 years of covering high school football in Lake County, I have seen three sets of brothers playing up on varsity together, all at the same time - and all for the same team.

That's the kind of unique family affair the Bears have lucked into, an asset that has helped them cohesively march through the first eight weeks of the season with a 6-2 record.

With a victory over Zion-Benton tonight, Lake Zurich could also claim at least a share of its first North Suburban Conference Lake Division title since 2007. That same year the Bears won the Class 7A state title.

Here's a closer look at the three sets of brothers, representing the Rantis, Moskal and Diehl families. They've helped make the Lake Zurich football team a brotherhood in the truest sense.

Mike and Chris Rantis

Sharing this experience on the varsity football team isn't all that unique for Mike and Chris. They've shared nearly everything in their lives.

Mike and Chris are twins, 17-year-old seniors.

Mike is a running back and Chris is a safety. Both are starters and have played on all but two of the same football teams together since they started in the Lake Zurich youth program as 7- or 8-year-olds.

"I like being a twin, except for when it comes to sharing the car," Chris laughed. "We share clothes. We think alike. We have a lot of the same friends. And at football, we've got someone to cheer us on. We like to see each other succeed."

Make no mistake, though. The Rantis brothers are highly competitive at the same time, perhaps more so because of the twin thing. Sibling rivalry is definitely present in this brotherhood.

"We're very supportive of each other, but there's definitely a big rivalry there," Mike said. "Everyone wants to be the better twin. I think that just makes us push each other. It motivates both of us to do better."

The Rantis brothers have done pretty well already.

They've been either starters or key contributors for the last two years and they were brought up to the varsity as sophomores in 2009 for the playoffs. Interestingly, they got to play with their older brother Peter that year. Peter was the starting quarterback and guided the Bears to the Class 7A semifinals.

"That was pretty neat," Mike said of the 2009 playoff run. "Not a lot of people get the chance to play with their brothers like that."

Mike and Chris say that they're lucky in other ways.

When they play football, they're on opposite sides. Mike plays offense and Chris plays defense, an arrangement that's a bit less sticky than when they were both running backs and had to split carries on the underlevel teams.

"It's better that we're not both trying to play the same position, but it still gets heated," Chris said. "We still have to go against each other in practice and the coaches like to get us going. They'll say, 'Who is going to get the parents' love tonight?' They're just joking around but it gets us fired up.

"(Mike) is shifty, but I like tackling him. I think he just tries to avoid me."

Mike and Chris won't be avoiding each other next year, but they also won't be seeing much of each other.

They'll likely go to different colleges, which means experiencing a different path for the first time in their lives.

"I think we both want to get away and experience new things on our own," Mike said. "But we'll always be close."

"We're close anyway," Chris confirmed. "But we've also got that whole twin thing. We'll always be really close because of that."

Blake and Colton Moskal

The Moskal brothers are different in that their family connection on the football team not only exists in the present but also is tied to the past.

In the early 1980s, Tom Moskal played defense at Lake Zurich, as a lineman and linebacker. He and his high school sweetheart Sandy eventually married and had three boys.

Blake, the oldest, is a senior and Colton is a sophomore. Both play linebacker, just like their dad.

It's just one of the many ways the Moskal boys use football to pay tribute to their dad. Tom Moskal died suddenly six years ago when Blake was a fifth grader and Colton was a third grader.

"It's very exciting for us to not only play for Lake Zurich, but to be a part of the tradition at the same place where our dad played," Blake said.

"It's kind of cool knowing we're doing the same thing he did," Colton added.

The Moskal boys definitely got some good football genes from their dad, who went on to play college football at Eastern Illinois University and then pro football in the NFL and the Canadian Football League.

Blake is consistently in the rotation and Colton, just 15 years old, is a starter. In games, they play together approximately every other series.

"When I come in, it's cool because I play right outside linebacker and (Colton) plays right inside linebacker," Blake said. "We're right next to each other.

"I was excited when I heard (Colton made varsity). I knew he had a really good shot because he's a really talented guy and he was playing on the sophomore team last year as a freshman. It's cool because we're getting this chance to play together."

It's not just the games that the brothers savor, though.

They work out together. They watch film together. They help each other with the playbook, and with staying motivated.

"In practice, we're always pushing each other to get better," Colton said. "We want to help each other whenever we can."

The Moskal boys helped each other in a big way in Lake Zurich's season opener against Fremd.

"I caused a fumble, and Colton recovered that same fumble," said Blake, who is hoping to go to pharmacy school at Butler next year.

"I'm going to miss having him in there next to me," Colton said as he reminisced about his fumble recovery.

Billy and Nick Diehl

As parents know, siblings sometimes provide very different accounts of how an event went down.

Billy and Nick Diehl, a senior defensive lineman and a junior linebacker, respectively, were no different as they recalled one of their favorite plays from the season thus far. Both reserves, it was on a series in which they were in at the same time.

"I'm a nose guard and I had taken out like three offensive linemen -" Billy started, before getting interrupted.

"No, you didn't," Nick said with an emphatic laugh that only a brother could get away with.

"Yes, I did - and then you snuck in and got a sack," Billy said to Nick.

"Actually, you blocked one person one way, and I went the other way and then I sacked the quarterback," Nick said.

"No, no, no," Billy said. "I will always give him a hard time about (how he got that sack)."

Billy and Nick are like most brothers. They wouldn't be breathing if they weren't giving each other a hard time.

But they say it's all in good fun and that they are actually appreciating every second they get to spend together on the football field.

"This is the first time I've been on the same team as Billy and I'm so happy about it because it gives us a chance to spend more quality time together," Nick said. "With brothers so close (in age), you're going to have fighting sometimes and sibling rivalry is a factor.

"But our relationship is the best I'll ever have in my life."

Billy says that he and his brother have a mutual admiration for each other.

"Even though Nick is younger than me, I look to him as a role model, too," Billy said. "I've never met someone who works so hard and he's helped me work harder. I'm not good in the morning and he's motivated me when we've had to get up at 5 a.m. to go lift."

Billy is hoping his hard work will translate into a spot on a college roster next year.

"I'm going to miss being with him every day. I'm going to miss playing with him every day," Nick said of Billy. "It's been nice to know that someone's been looking out for me. If I had a bad day at practice, or a bad game, I knew I could always talk to Billy about that.

"He always has such a positive attitude, and always has a smile on his face."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com