Lake Zurich answers questions by rolling past Libertyville
Lake Zurich opened the season with a tough loss against state-ranked Fremd, which will naturally create some questions.
The Bears have answered, delivering three straight decisive victories. They rolled up 275 rushing yards to topple North Suburban Conference foe Libertyville 27-9 on Friday in Lake Zurich.
“I'm really happy with our guys,” LZ coach Ron Planz said. “People have asked me all week, 'How is Libertyville? How are you guys?' And I was like, 'I don't know.'
“Sometimes early in the season, you don't know exactly. What we did at Antioch (33-0 win), was that because of us, was that a fluke thing? I wanted to see if we could execute and we did.”
Planz has talked about having good depth at running back. Senior Kaden Abrantes took the spotlight in this game, finishing with 158 yards on 22 carries, including a 47-yard burst on the opening drive of the third quarter.
The Bears (3-1, 2-0) were methodical on offense most of the night, running behind an offensive line of Oliver Goodman, Jackson Griglione, Jake Pacini, Andy Marmol and Matthew Musso. Quarterback Reid Pfeifer connected with Chris Chang for a 58-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, but LZ didn't need to throw at all in the second half.
“We come to Fremd and we lose, obviously. I think we took that to heart,” Pfeifer said. “We really worked harder as a team. In the weight room every morning, 5:30 a.m., we're all in there together working as a team. We don't have the size, really, but our strength and heart as a team really showed after Week 1. I couldn't ask for better teammates.”
Pfeifer ran for 2 touchdowns and added 31 rushing yards. Ryan Hasemeyer had 49 yards on 10 carries, while Danny Hope tacked on 21 yards on the ground.
“Three running backs help a lot,” Pfeifer said. “Nobody's tired, so they can go the whole game 100%.”
Libertyville (1-3, 0-2) lost its third straight game, but finished a tough stretch of the schedule. Playoffs remain a possibility.
“Defensively, a lot of good,” Wildcats coach Tim Budge said. “A couple big plays we gave up. Just a tough game. We saw improvements, but we just didn't execute to our ability.”
Libertyville started the game with a long drive, but had to settle for a 33-yard field goal by Jack Zaban. Lake Zurich responded with 27 unanswered points, taking advantage of good field position a few times.
The Wildcats struggled on offense and managed just 24 passing yards through three quarters. But then junior QB Brady Buenik found a rhythm and completed 6 of 8 passes for 106 yards, hitting touted tight end Brock Williams for an 8-yard touchdown.
“We're going to keep to our identity,” Budge said. “We want to run the ball and throw it. This is (Buenik's) first full game playing too. We'll be fine. We've just got to stick together through this tough stretch.”