Clark, Lakes run away from Wauconda

There was no hiding the running ability of running back Direll Clark on Thursday night.

Clark carried 30 times for 260 yards and led the Eagles’ offense in a big way as Lakes flew past host Wauconda 33-13 in a North Suburban Prairie Division game.

“I’ve never had a night like this before,” said Clark, who had 1 touchdown run from 8 yards and also had a 56-yard run on the opening drive. He finished with 200 yards in the first half.

“It’s fun to get the crowd going and the rest of the team pumped up,” Clark said. ““I know I can get the 5-yard gains, I and like to bust it up to 30 yards, or bust it all the way. It was the holes — everybody was getting off the ball like we’ve done in practice. We just dominated on the line. I give all the credit to the offensive line.”

The Eagles (5-2, 3-1) scored the game’s first 23 points.

“We set the goal that we wanted to run the football,” Lakes coach Luke Mertens said. “You need to run the football in this league if you’re going to win.

“We knew about their quarterback (Brandon Rowe), and their offense is very dynamic. We wanted to run the ball and keep them off the field. We came out fired up and ready to go. Glad to get out of the gates quickly.”

Eagles quarterback Chris Hoffman capped the opening drive with a 5-yard TD run. Lakes kicker Tanner Blain followed up with a 32-yard field goal.

Ashton Norwood (14 carries, 90 yards) scampered into the end zone from the 1, and Clark gave the Eagles a 23-0 advantage on an 8-yard run with 6:37 left in the second quarter.

Rowe (5 of 15, 183 yards, 2 INTs) hooked up with Eric Fuller on a 55-yard pass completion late in the second quarter. Then David Starkey rushed for a 5-yard touchdown with 3:14 left, leaving Wauconda (2-5, 1-4) down 23-6.

Blain added another 32-yard field goal with no time left for a 26-6 Eagles lead at the break.

In the second half, Fuller (3 receptions, 121 yards) caught an 18-yard TD pass from Rowe for the other Bulldogs score.

Justin Bergeron added a Lakes score with a 6-yard TD catch from Chris Hoffman.

“Give credit to Lakes, they came out and ran the ball all night long,” Wauconda coach Dave Mills said. “Clark had a tremendous night. (The Lakes) offensive line created some nice holes and ran right through them.

“When you’re down by 23, it’s hard to play from behind. We started pressing after that.”