Lakes comes close but falls short against Deerfield

This was definitely a tough pill to swallow, and obviously not the start the Lakes Eagles football team was looking for.

After jumping out to a 20-7 halftime lead, visiting Deerfield scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to pull out a thrilling 27-20 season-opening nonconference win in Lake Villa.

"The first half we moved the ball well," said Lakes coach Luke Mertens, whose club is looking for its seventh playoff appearance in a row later this fall. "But we were our own worst enemy tonight. We just didn't make the big plays and they (Deerfield) did."

Mertens and the boys got the packed home crowd delirious in the first half.

A couple of minutes into the game, junior Ryan Selig bolted 45 yards on the fifth play from scrimmage and the Eagles appeared on their way.

Not to be outdone, Deerfield tied the contest up at 7-7 when junior quarterback Jonah Silverglade tossed a 30-yard scoring strike to senior wide-out Charles Jones and all of a sudden we had a game with 10:12 left before intermission.

But Lakes (0-1) caught fire and scored two more quick touchdowns to take the two-score advantage into the locker room.

First, Khan hit Selig with a 5-yard strike for a 14-7 lead with 6:07 left in the half.

Then with 1:50 left in the second, Khan showcased his arm again by hitting D'lo Hardy for a 36-yard score and Lakes looked in control.

But then things kind of changed.

You knew it wasn't a good sign on Lakes' opening drive of the third when, while although walking off on his own power, senior star running back and Northwestern commit Cameron Ruiz cramped up and was sidelined for precautionary reasons for the rest of the game.

"That certainly didn't help having one of our best players out for the second half," said Mertens of his primary workhorse who finished with 33 yards on 6 carries in just over one half of action.

Deerfield started making plays and scored two quick touchdowns in the third to claw to within 20-19.

Silverglade hit junior wide-out John Vuckovich with 7:59 left in the third. Then Fradin scampered 22 yards to draw the Warriors to within one.

After stopping Lakes on fourth-and-3 midway through the fourth period, Deerfield took advantage when Jones dashed in from 6 yards out. Fradin ran in the two-point conversion and the Warriors found themselves ahead for the first time at 27-20 with 2:57 left in regulation.

Lakes had one last chance to tie or even win the game but Deerfield's defense stood tall and stopped the Eagles on fourth-and-2 from the 3 with 10 ticks remaining.

"We had some damaging dropped passes and missed blocks," said Mertens, whose troops will look for that first win when it hosts Highland Park next Friday. "That was a winnable game and we couldn't get it done."

Selig led the Eagles in rushing with 64 yards on 5 carries and the two scores. Khan wound up completing 14-of-24 passes for 148 yards and the two scores. His favorite target on the night were Selig (8 catches, 55 yards) and Hardy (3 catches, 68 yards).

Silverglade ended up completing 7-of-10 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns with Jones hauling in 3 passes for 74 yards and one receiving and one rushing score.