Lake Park has WW South's number
The unlisted No. 91 on the Lake Park football roster actually is junior defensive lineman Jacub Panasiuk.
"My football number was 90 and I grew out of (the jersey). It started cutting me on my skin so I had to switch," Panasiuk said. "No matter what number I play with, it doesn't matter."
Wheaton Warrenville South found out quickly who Panasiuk was. He was part of a great defensive effort that resulted in some numbers that he and the Lancers liked afterward - a 17-13 DuPage Valley Conference home victory in Roselle.
"It's really big. Our team needed this after coming off that loss to Waubonsie (Valley 27-6 in the opener)," Panasiuk said.
"Everyone stepped up, defense, offense, even special teams. This means for the defense that we're back and we're just going to improve from here on out."
Senior linebacker Nathan Faruzzi returned a fumble 29 yards for a touchdown for the game's first score. The fourth takeway by the Lancers (1-1, 1-1), an interception by Nathan Figueroa at the Tigers' 44-yard line, set up a key touchdown with 3:48 left in the third quarterback on quarterback Jaron Fields' 7-yard TD run on fourth-and-goal.
After the Tigers (1-1, 1-1) closed to 17-13 on an 11-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Jack Maher to Tyler Hamilton with 1:48 to play, Panasiuk blocked the extra point. Then he recovered the ensuing onside kick.
Panasiuk also caused a fumble and had a sack and three other tackles for loss and deflected a pass. Senior brother Mike Panasiuk had a sack, another tackle for loss, a deflected pass and hurry on Figueroa's interception.
"We kind of came into the year thinking we could be the best defense in the DVC, which is a lot to say because I'm sure every week is going to be insane," Lake Park coach Chris Roll said. "We weren't proud of what we did last week, so yeah, there was a chip - and that was on both sides of the ball."
The Tigers played great defense, too. They held the line on two first-half drives that resulted in missed field goals of 35 and 30 yards after Daniel Lamz was successful from 33 yards.
When lineman Solomon Jackson blocked a punt just before halftime, the Tigers got the ball at the 5 and starting quarterback Mike Stebbins ran the ball in on the next play.
"Every time we moved the ball we fumbled it or threw a pick and put too much pressure on our defense," WW South coach Ron Muhitch said.
"It was not our defense's fault. Our offense really struggled with their defensive linemen and we have some really nagging injuries. They dominated us, I thought. Offensively, they stuffed us every run play that we tried."
The Lancers opened the second half with a decent drive before an interception. Then they got the ball right back with Figueroa's pick and converted. Stebbins suffered an apparent broken collarbone during the series and was replaced by Jack Maher.
"The first half was really (our defense). Then I think the offense complemented the defense in the second half with those long drives," Roll said.