Scouting Lake Zurich at Warren

Lake Zurich (5-1, 2-1) at Warren (4-2, 2-1)

When: 7:30 p.m., today

Last week: Lake Zurich lost to Stevenson, 24-23; Warren def. Lake Forest, 28-14.

Skinny: Both Lake Zurich and Warren had their shot at first-place Stevenson and came up short. Now, with a shot at each other, sole possession of second place in the North Suburban Lake Division is on the line. "We started out slow," Warren coach Dave Mohapp said. "Our goal has been to work our way back to the upper level of the standings. Lake Zurich is a tough team and will be a challenge for us. You can see why they're 5-1 and could easily be 6-0." In fact, Mohapp probably would have preferred to play an undefeated Lake Zurich team. He says the fact that Lake Zurich lost a 24-23 heartbreaker to Stevenson last week makes for a hungry team anxious to right the ship. "I think you'd always rather be playing the winner of a game like that last week," Mohapp said. "Lake Zurich is obviously very disappointed they didn't win that game. They're going to be working very hard to get back on track."-Lake Zurich will turn first to its defense, which is giving up just 9.8 points per game, lowest in the Lake Division. The Bears will also continue to ride the coattails of running back Jacob Brinlee, who rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown last week against Stevenson. "I don't know if you can stop a guy like that," Mohapp said of Brinlee. "He is so fast. He's going to provide a huge challenge to us defensively."-But Warren's defense just passed a huge test. Last week, the Blue Devils limited a Lake Forest offense that is averaging 33.5 points per game to just one touchdown. The Scouts scored their other touchdown in a 28-14 loss on an interception return. The Warren defense got its usual big game out of linebacker Matt Goad as well as some clutch play out of cornerback Brandon Tyler, who broke up plenty of Lake Forest's 31 pass attempts.