Lakes rolls by North Chicago

It took more than a half and 5 Lakes turnovers before the Eagles woke up.

Alertly, they then flew past North Chicago 41-14 on Thursday night in a North Suburban Prairie game in Lake Villa.

The Eagles scored 27 unanswered points and sophomore Direll Clark (15 carries, 104 yards) rushed for 3 touchdowns in the absence of senior back James Zell, who was injured last week against Vernon Hills. Zell is expected to miss four games as he injured his MCL, according to Lakes coach Luke Mertens.

Meanwhile, the Eagles (3-1, 1-1) found itself going through another game of mistakes and gave North Chicago the opportunity to stick around.

"It was the message all week long," said Mertens after a disappointing loss to Vernon Hills. "We have to execute. The loss to (Vernon Hills) on the scoreboard was not the issue. We needed to execute better."

North Chicago (0-4, 0-1) tied the game at 14-14 on a Daryle Pearson 45-yard touchdown pass from Jermaine Garrett and a 2-point conversion with 9:28 left in the third quarter. The Warhawks set up the score by getting an interception, Lakes' fifth turnover.

"We talked at halftime - this was the number we rushed for and passed," Mertens said. "Everyone felt good about it, but the number that mattered the most was the turnovers, It was something we had to fix."

It turned out to be a quick fix: The Eagles responded by running the ball. Clark capped a 9-play, 65-yard drive on a 3-yard scamper into the end zone with 1:50 left.

"I knew what Direll was able to do along with the rest of the team," said Mertens of Clark, who also scored on a 2-yard run in the opening quarter. "He gave a huge shot for us, and he's a big sophomore to contend with out there."

Then the Lakes defense stepped up as Donte Arnold pick off a pass, which was one of 4 North Chicago turnovers.

The Eagles scored two plays later, as Arnold (12 carries, 86 yards) produced a 7-yard touchdown run with 6 seconds left for a 28-14 advantage.

"I thought we got them on their heels," Mertens said. "We were able to get some rhythm down there and we were able to have something to stick with.

Lakes added two more scores in the final quarter, Clark on a 7-yard run and Michael Pfeiffer from 9 yards.