Well-rested Vernon Hills able to hold off Lakes

Vernon Hills shook off the rust, on Rust-Oleum Field no less. And well-rested Evan Spencer did the rest.

Along the way, the multitalented junior got help from his good buddy DaVaris Daniels and the rest of his teammates to earn a victory that was worth the wait.

Playing for the first time in 13 days, Vernon Hills held on for a 20-17 win over pesky Lakes in a well-contested North Suburban Prairie Division contest Thursday night.

The victory was technically the second straight for Vernon Hills (3-1, 2-0), although it hadn't played a game since losing to South Elgin on Sept. 4. The Cougars defeated North Chicago last week by forfeit as a result of North Chicago's involvement in on-field fight with Simeon the previous week.

"We got a good rivalry with North Chicago and we always want to play them," Spencer said. "But the rest was kind of nice too. I'm not going to lie."

Truth be told, Vernon Hills looked in midseason form almost immediately.

Daniels recovered a Lakes fumble on the game's first snap. Then after Cougars fullback Brian Palmer (14 carries, 96 yards) busted off a 30-yard run, Daniels took a pitch and threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Spencer, who outmaneuvered a defender for the ball down the sideline.

"They ran toss-pass and it was covered," Eagles coach Luke Mertens said. "The kid (Spencer) made a play."

Just like that - 41 seconds into the game - Vernon Hills had the lead.

"We actually felt we'd try something like that to try to shake some of the rust off," Cougars coach Tony Monken said. "We tried to get some excitement going early. We knew that their defensive backs are very active in getting involved in the run game, so we thought we'd try to take advantage of it early."

Lakes (2-2, 1-1) eventually answered when Ryan Noon threw a 2-yard TD pass to Mike Beckman on the first play of the second quarter to cap a 14-play drive. Beckman's kick gave the Eagles a 7-6 lead.

Vernon Hills went back in front on Thomas Turner's 1-yard touchdown run with 12 seconds left before halftime. Spencer's 22-yard reception on a middle screen on fourth-and-8 keyed the drive.

Then came the backbreaker for Lakes.

Vernon Hills' Jarrett Wood recovered an onside kick at the 50, and the Cougars pulled out some more trickery.

With just nine seconds on the clock, Daniels took the direct snap from center, pitched the ball to Spencer on a reverse, and Spencer sped. He zigged, zagged and busted tackles before reaching the end zone.

"In the huddle, everybody thought we were going to just take a knee," Daniels said. "But the call came in and it was '16 Reverse.' Everybody got excited. I was like, 'We can score on this play. If we make our blocks, we're going to score right here before halftime.' Evan made some nice cuts. He made a lot of people miss and had the heart to get to the end zone."

"As I started to run, I could see it was clogged up," Spencer said. "Then as I started to move around, it started to open up and I got my blockers downfield. Brian Berzanski helped me out a lot on that play."

Vernon Hills took a 20-7 lead into the second half but lost Daniels for the rest of the night when he tweaked his left hamstring on a 47-yard completion from Lakes quarterback Nick Hibbing to Josh Pohlman.

"I'll be fine by (next) Saturday against Round Lake," Daniels said.

Noon's 3-yard pass to Andrew Tubek (18 carries, 54 yards) in the end zone got Lakes within 20-14 entering the fourth quarter. Pohlman's interception had given the Eagles the ball at the 50, and Hibbing then hit Tyler Swindle for a 45-yard gain.

Lakes had three long drives after that score, but managed only a 37-yard field goal from Beckman midway through the fourth. In the closing seconds, Vernon Hills linebacker Austin Miller broke up a pass on fourth-and-10 from the Vernon Hills 45.

Spencer had 2 pass breakups on the night.

"The touchdown before half was inexcusable," Mertens said. "We kept fumbling the football (three times, in total). The defense got us opportunities, but we couldn't punch it in. Quite frankly, you deserve to lose when you can't capitalize on those opportunities."

The Eagles certainly impressed Monken.

"If anyone doubted that they were a good football team, they proved it last week by coming back against Grant," he said. "We were happy to be up 20-7 at half, but no way were we comfortable."