Moutvic, Scouts turn away Libertyville
Nothing too much seems to bother Lake Forest senior Connor Moutvic. The Scouts' 0-2 start, the Libertyville defense, two broken bones in his right wrist - none of that seemed to bother the wide-smiled Moutvic.
It seems that the only ones that were bothered at all by Moutvic and his 15-catch, 187-yard performance, which included a 93-yard kickoff return for touchdown, were the host Wildcats.
"That kid, number 9, he was all over the place tonight," said Libertyville coach Randy Kuceyeski. "He's a heck of a player."
Moutvic was the beneficiary of 2 touchdown passes of the 4 thrown by Notre Dame-bound senior Tommy Rees as the Scouts went into hostile territory and picked up their first win of the season 38-28 over Libertyville.
"This was a great game for our kids and for our program," said Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli. "And what can you say about Connor? He is a football player and he loves to play the game."
Lake Forest (1-2, 1-0) was staring an 0-3 start as the Scouts trailed 21-7 midway through the second quarter. But the much maligned Lake Forest defense came up with a decisive stop on fourth-and-1, turning the ball back over and turning over all the momentum to the Scouts.
"Could a play be any more important than that?" Spagnoli asked. "That was really the turning point and gave our defense a lot of confidence."
From there, Rees began to show why he earned a scholarship to play for the Irish. Rees and the offense took all of 55 seconds to bring his team within 7 at 21-14. His first touchdown strike of the night of 23 yards to Moutvic began the huge momentum swing. A Libertyville turnover and seven players later, Rees found Bo Dever for a 28-yard scoring play, and just like that the Scouts had tied a game that Libertyville (1-2, 0-1) had dominated to that point.
"That defensive stop was just what we needed," Rees said. "We definitely needed that shot in the arm and the defense gave it to us."
Friday was another monster stat night for Rees. The state's top passer completed 30 of 43 passes for 347 yards, but his best work came in the third quarter.
During one stretch, Rees completed 14 straight passes and culminated two drives to start the second half with scores to give the Scouts the lead for good. His second TD pass of the quarter of 4 yards to Owen Williams came after a 53-yard touchdown run by James Zotto (8 carries, 88 yards). The play broke a 28-28 tie and give Lake Forest the lead for good.
As for Moutvic, "I didnt feel anything," he said of his broken right wrist. "With the way (Tommy) throws the ball, it doesn't hurt when it hits your hands anyway."
Rees' performance offset a stellar performance on the ground by Kevin Penny of Libertyville. The senior rushed for 147 yards on 19 carries. Nick McDowell added a pair of scoring runs for Libertyville.