Lake Park throttles Streamwood

Lake Park entered the season with high expectations, but those expectations were shattered after the Lancers lost 5 of their first 6 games.

Lake Park started picking up the pieces on Friday at Streamwood.

Junior running back Artie Monaco scored 4 touchdowns leading Lake Park (2-5, 2-3) to a convincing 42-7 Upstate Eight victory over host Streamwood at Millennium Field.

"Three of our five losses were down to minimal mistakes, if we would have taken care of it we would be in a different position," said offensive coordinator Chris Roll of the Lancers, who lost 3 of their games by a total of 11 points. "Tonight we feel a little bit better, but it's still a bit bittersweet because a lot of these kids have put a lot of years into this program and are still hurting a bit."

With starting running back Chris Jasinski sitting out, Monaco put a hurting on the Streamwood defense.

The junior rushed for 207 yards on 11 carries, scoring on runs of 1, 30, 4, and 2 to lead the Lancers.

"It feels so good to get a win; we've been struggling and it's been so close," added Monaco, "The linemen really help me with these big holes, all I did was run straight, made a couple moves. Now we have some momentum."

Junior quarterback Larry Nawrot (9-of-14, 136 yards) completed his first 5 passes including a 21-yarder to Julian Figueroa that set up Monaco first touchdown giving the Lancers a 7-0 first quarter lead.

Monaco then scored on 30-yard draw up the middle accelerating the final 20 yards to increase the Lancers' advantage to 14-0 with 10:26 remaining in the second quarter.

Monaco's 77-yard run gave Lake Park the ball on Streamwood's 7 and two plays later the junior added his third score on a 4-yard burst up the middle giving the Lancers a 21-0 halftime advantage.

The Lancers' defense limited Streamwood to 124 total yards in the first half.

Streamwood (1-6, 1-4) lost both starting quarterback Noel Rivera and starting running back Derrick King to first half injuries. But junior quarterback Joey Hanover came off the bench to lead the Sabres on a 14-play, 72-yard scoring drive to begin the second half. Hanover finished the drive with 1-yard sneak to narrow the deficit to 21-7.

"The offense was able to come out against the defense after struggling in the first half and drive down the field," said Streamwood coach Cal Cummins. "I give our guys a lot of credit for that, it was a nice showing."