Zaro’s late field goal lifts Lake Zurich to NSC victory over Warren
It was not an easy victory for the Lake Zurich football team, but in the end sophomore quarterback Benji Ferguson and the Bears got the job done in dramatic fashion Friday night at Warren.
Lake Zurich's Marko Zaro kicked a 30-yard field goal with 5:58 to play before Warren's Adam Benske missed a 39-yard field goal with 34 seconds to go as the Bears held on for an exciting 23-21 North Suburban Conference victory.
"They're so fast and physical, and they do so many things well," said Lake Zurich coach Dragan Teonic, whose team led 14-0 after one quarter.
"I think they're extremely well coached. We needed to match their intensity and we did it with a really young team. After a disappointing loss last week (against Libertyville) that would have won the conference outright, I'm super proud of our team because there is always the risk of a hangover after a tough loss."
Warren (4-5, 4-3) scored 21 unanswered points to take a 21-14 lead on a 45-yard touchdown run by junior Jonathan Randolph (206 yards on 34 rushes) midway through the third quarter.
Lake Zurich (6-3, 6-1) responded quickly as an 18-yard TD run by Javian Blanco (58 yards on seven carries) cut the lead to 21-20 after the extra point was blocked.
After a slow start, the Blue Devils offense was very effective on senior night. Quarterback Xavier Vinson (12-for-18, 175 yards) connected with Zech Yancey for touchdown plays of 57 and 23 yards to deadlock the score at 14-14 with only 26 seconds left in the first half. Yencey broke tackles on both of the touchdown plays before racing into the end zone.
But Warren could not get any closer than the 23-yard-line on its final drive which forced Benske to have to attempt the longer field goal attempt which was short and wide left.
"We lost the game by our execution, but I thought our seniors really came out and played well all night long," said Warren coach Bryan McNulty, whose team had 395 total yards of offense. "But we had some missed execution, we couldn't close the door on them, and we've got to win these kinds of games. We're a really young team with almost all juniors, but we have to win these close games."
Ferguson (9-for-20, 130 yards) opened the scoring with a 2-yard TD run before his 2-yard TD pass to Max Grund staked the Bears to an early 14-0 lead. Ferguson also rushed for 43 yards on eight attempts.
"A lot of our games have come down to one possession and tonight it was good to win in the final seconds," said Ferguson. "We have been a run-heavy offense all year, but the play-action opened up and we made some plays tonight."