Against Round Lake, it's all Lake Zurich
Host Lake Zurich scored early and often in this North Suburban Conference football game Friday night.
The Bears overwhelmed an outmanned Round Lake squad by building a commanding 49-0 halftime lead with a combination of effective running and passing.
From there, Lake Zurich (2-3) went on to a 70-0 NSC crossover victory over the Panthers as the entire second half was played with a running clock.
Round Lake had little to no offensive success in the contest, but the Panthers did get a first down on their opening series before being forced to punt from their own 35.
The Bears began their offensive onslaught right away as senior quarterback Joey Lindstrom (7-for-9, 103 yards passing) hit teammate Jared Wynandy with a 21-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage to put the ball on the Round Lake 23.
Three plays later, junior running back Kyle Roth followed his blockers well en route to a 17-yard touchdown run on his only carry of the game before teammate Jake Kubin hit the first of his 10 extra points to give Lake Zurich a 7-0 lead 3:55 into the contest.
Poor field position proved to be a real nemesis for the Panthers for the entire game as Round Lake wound up with 0 yards of offense overall. To make matters even worse, starting running back Juwan Brownlee left the game due to injury late in the first quarter, and starting quarterback Tabieas Young did not return after getting hurt early in the second quarter.
After Roth's punt return for a touchdown was called back midway through the first quarter, Lake Zurich responded with a quick scoring drive on its second possession.
This time, Lindstrom scrambled away from pressure before finding senior teammate Ben Klett on a 28-yard TD pass near the right pylon to boost the lead to 14-0.
Then came a real early back-breaker for the Panthers as sophomore Jack Sanborn blocked a punt before sophomore teammate Joey Stutzman recovered it in the end zone for a 21-0 advantage.
After another three and out for Round Lake, Lake Zurich senior John Strojny (45 yards on 3 carries) broke numerous tackles on his way to the end zone on a 17-yard TD run for a commanding 28-0 lead after one quarter.
An interception by senior Dante Manley set up the Bears next TD as Klett (42 yards on 2 rushes) once again got in on the act.
It only took one play as Klett went 36 yards off left tackle for the TD and a 35-0 lead 1:04 into the second quarter.
"We're really starting to come together as a team and every game we've grown and come together," said Klett, who is already preparing for a showdown at Libertyville next Friday. "Every series we scored except for one and we've really been focusing on getting better each week. We are going to start thinking about Libertyville tonight, and our next game is a playoff game."
A 46-yard punt return by Roth got the Bears going again late in the first half with the ball on the Round Lake 30.
Three plays later, Lindstrom hit tight end Adam Rothas with an 8-yard TD pass over the middle to make the score 42-0.
Then with only 59 seconds left in the first half, senior Nick Sanders scored on a 13-yard TD run and the Bears held a 49-point lead.
"They played well, and we've got to continue to play well because our offense in my opinion is the key," said Lake Zurich coach Dave Proffitt, whose team had 339 total yards of offense. "If our offense can control the football our chances of winning go up, if we don't do that we struggle."
With many reserves playing in the second half, Lake Zurich's Shawn Bandel scored on a 15-yard TD run late in the third quarter for a 56-0 lead.
Senior Bokun Lee added a 3-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter before teammate Conner Baldwin's 1-yard TD run closed out the scoring with 3:46 to play.
"For us to be successful offensively we need to start throwing the ball a little bit and (Lindstrom) took a step forward tonight and that is big," said Proffitt, whose team had 232 yards rushing. "We welcome the opportunity to play a good team like Libertyville, we will be ready, and we'll see what happens."