LZ's DeLeo heeds the call

As the second half of Lake Zurich's Week 3 game against Stevenson opened, Bobby DeLeo was on the sideline.

And he stayed there for the rest of the game.

Everyone in the press box wondered what was going on. Was something wrong with the Bears' starting quarterback? Was he hurt?

The answers were no, and no.

It turned out that DeLeo was just fine -- except, perhaps, for a slightly bruised ego.

Despite running for a 21-yard second-quarter touchdown and guiding Lake Zurich to a 10-0 lead at the break, DeLeo was benched for the second half in favor of backup quarterback Tanner Witt.

"Bobby was making some mistakes -- and on things we had worked on in practice," Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz said. "There was a problem with (the center-to quarterback-exchange) and the ball was on the ground a lot in the first half.

"Ball security is very important and we needed to make a point to the team."

Point taken.

In fact, not only was the point taken, it was taken refreshingly well.

Stortz said that under difficult circumstances, DeLeo handled himself admirably on the sideline, and that he took the benching constructively, not personally.

"He completely understood the decision and he wasn't sitting there trying to disagree with it," Stortz said. "But that's how he is. Bobby's kind of stoic and really evened-keeled. He's just a real mature kid."

Mature well beyond his 18 years.

DeLeo was forced to grow up quickly. When he was just 14, his father Mike, a passionate family man and proud Italian who could cook a mean batch of mostaccioli, died of cancer. Mike was just 46.

Clearly, a brief benching isn't the worst thing DeLeo has ever had to handle.

"Life's not perfect," DeLeo said. "Things are going to happen. It was hard standing on the sideline. It wasn't fun. But you've pretty much got to fight through the bad things that happen to you and get over them."

Of course, DeLeo will never get over the loss of his father. He misses him every day -- misses washing the car with him, misses going out to get his hair cut with him. And he definitely laments the fact that his dad never got to share a Friday night under the lights with him.

But the Stevenson thing ... well, that's ancient history to DeLeo.

After an intense week of practice, he got his starting spot back the very next game and has been helping the 5-1 Bears roll up the victories ever since.

In fact, Lake Zurich's latest victory -- a 55-6 thumping of Zion-Benton last Friday -- was one of DeLeo's best games of the year. He completed 7-of-9 passes for 233 yards.

"I don't think a Lake Zurich quarterback has thrown for that many yards in a long time," said Bobby's older brother Tony, who would know. Tony, now a junior at Northern Illinois, played wide receiver for the Bears before graduating in 2005.

"We mostly ran the ball when I played at Lake Zurich," Tony said. "I would have loved to have played with a quarterback like Bobby. Actually, I would have loved just to have been on the same team as him."

Both DeLeo brothers say that they are about as tight as two brothers could be. They love playing sports together, hanging out together, laughing together at all of their inside jokes.

They've been close their whole lives, but have gotten even closer since their father died.

They talk on the phone often, and Tony drives home every weekend to make sure he's there for every one of Bobby's games.

"I love watching Bobby play," Tony said. "But it's kind of tough sometimes to be at those games because you get sad. It's sad that my dad never got to see my brother play in high school. He didn't get to see what a great season he's having this year."

Nor did Mike DeLeo get to see the kind of young man Bobby has turned into.

Both Bobby and Tony stepped up their responsibilities around the house when Mike died, but with Tony at college, it's been Bobby who has been left to deal with the brunt of the work.

Bobby helps his mom Shelley with the housework and does a lot to make sure his 11-year-old sister Vanessa is taken care of.

"It's kind of frustrating at times because you just want to be with your friends," DeLeo said. "But that's what needs to be done.

"My mom and I have to be really close to make sure that we get everything done that needs to be done so that we can keep functioning. There's a lot to do, but my mom is a wonderfully strong woman. To lose someone like that and to go on and raise a family all by yourself ... she's just incredible."

Incredible. That's how DeLeo also characterizes this ride he's been on with the Lake Zurich football team.

He was the back-up quarterback on a team that advanced all the way to the Class 7A state championship game last November, and he's now the starter for a team that seems to be well positioned for another trip down to Champaign.

"Last year was amazing and this year, we're having an awesome season so far," DeLeo said. "I think about my dad a lot during football. He always supported us in sports. He coached us in soccer a couple of years.

"He would have loved to have been here watching all these games."

Even the Stevenson game.

After all, that might have been DeLeo's finest performance of the season.