Lake Zurich joins the shutout party

It's tough to match the defensive glitz of Vernon Hills.

The Cougars are still pitching a season-long goose egg. With their 20-0 shutout of Grant on Friday, they have outscored their opponents 310-0 in seven games.

Lake Zurich's defensive numbers aren't quite as impressive. But they're certainly nothing to scoff at.

Lake Zurich is to the Lake Division of the North Suburban Conference what Vernon Hills is to the Prairie Division. The 6-1 Bears are the stingy old Scrooges on that side.

A 14-0 NSC Lake victory over Warren on Friday night gave Lake Zurich its third shutout of the year. It also kept the Bears' points allowed total at 59, an average of just 8.4 per game.

Stevenson and Warren, the next best defensive teams in the Lake, are allowing 12.0 and 12.7 points per game, respectively.

"I think our defense is good because every single one of us fly to the ball, no matter where it is," explained Lake Zurich linebacker JJ Raffelson, who tallied a mind-blowing 5 sacks against Warren. "It's the pursuit. That's our defense.

"Our coaching staff is outstanding and that's what they teach. 'Run to the ball, run to the ball, everyone run to the ball.' You just never know who's going to make the play, so everyone has to pursue (the ball)."

Along with Raffelson's 5 sacks, the Lake Zurich defense also came up with an interception by Grant Soucy in the fourth quarter, forced a fumble and limited Warren to just 141 yards of total offense on the night.

"That could be one of our best defensive performances of the year," Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz said after the Warren game. "Our kids came up big in crucial situations defensively tonight. They just played outstanding.

"I think what we gave Warren is something they hadn't really seen. We needed a way to pressure but still cover and we did that. We worked on it a lot this week in practice."