Brinlee, Lake Zurich rush past Libertyville

No college football program has a commitment from Lake Zurich senior running back Jacob Brinlee.

Yet.

Brinlee, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound centerpiece of the Bears' offense the last couple of years, might have been overlooked by programs in both the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Football Championship (formerly Division I-AA). However, Brinlee made it a little harder for anyone to ignore him during the first half of Lake Zurich's 44-22 win over Libertyville before an overflow crowd in Lake Zurich.

In particular, Brinlee's fifth, sixth and seventh carries of the evening should be catching the attention of any coach looking for a speedy back. Brinlee did the football equivalent of Reggie Jackson hitting three home runs on three consecutive pitches in the 1977 World Series. To wit:

• On a second-and-10 on the Bears' 41 and the score tied at 7-7, Brinlee took a pitch down the left sideline, got outside the linebacker and defensive back and was in the end zone to give Lake Zurich the lead.

• After Libertyville punted on the ensuing possession, Brinlee took an inside handoff on a first-and-10 from the Bears' 12, breaking one tackle and accelerating through the Wildcats' secondary en route to an 88-yard touchdown run.

• On a second-and-8 from the Lake Zurich 16 immediately following another Libertyville punt, Brinlee took another handoff off left tackle and into the end zone.

That's 231 yards and 3 touchdowns on three carries. Brinlee finished the night with 280 yards on 14 carries - 276 coming in the first half - to shatter the eight-year-old school record of 255 yards rushing set by Chris Redding in a Fox Valley Conference game versus Crystal Lake South.

"Someone's going to be lucky and have him next year," coach Bryan Stortz said. "He's the real deal."

Brinlee shrugged off the hat trick.

"It was pretty much just instinct," he said. "But the wideouts did a great job getting some huge blocks in."

While Brinlee's trio of big plays broke the game open for Lake Zurich, the Bears' Mike Shield also was a force. Shield managed 114 yards and 3 touchdowns on 16 carries, for Lake Zurich which is now 5-0 overall and 2-0 in North Suburban Lake going into next week's game against fellow undefeated conference rival Stevenson.

Meanwhile, the Bears defense was able to keep Libertyville's defense off balance, forcing 5 turnovers and recording 6 sacks.

Kiah McGee, a 6-4 280-pound senior, had 4 of the sacks.

"It's the first time we've gone up against a quarterback who works out of the shotgun," McGee said. "They're a good team."

The Wildcats (1-4, 0-3 NSC Lake) managed 350 yards of total offense, led by quarterback A.J. Schurr (18-for-27, 210 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions), who also managed 93 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns.