Prep football season has been a surprise(s) party
The two most surprising prep football teams in Lake County this year have got to be the Lakes Eagles and the Highland Park Giants.
This is only the fifth varsity season for the Eagles, who have already made the playoffs twice (including this year).
Truthfully, I didn't know what to expect from Lakes this season, but after watching them take apart a very good Antioch team two games ago, I was very impressed.
This Andrew Tubek kid is a swift, slippery runner who is now the all-time scorer in Lakes history. Nick Hibbing is just a junior and appears poised at quarterback. And Mike Beckman has already kicked 10 field goals this season.
Ten.
Most high school teams don't get 10 field goals in 10 seasons.
Congrats to coach Luke Mertens, the only grid leader the school has known, who has put together a nice program.
In the meantime, Highland Park and its first-year coach Hal Chiodo finished atop the Central Suburban North with a 5-0 conference mark, 6-3 overall.
The Giants' success this year flies in the face of the old adage that the former top whistle-blower wouldn't have left if there was still a talented roster to be mined.
When coach Kurt Weinberg departed for the bigger, if not greener pastures of Lyons High in LaGrange, and the team he left behind started out 0-3, it appeared as though the "no (good) team left behind" rule applied again.
But a closer look at the Giants' schedule indicated that Chiodo received a baptism by fire, starting his career against Warren, Stevenson and Football Factory University -- Maine South -- three of the best teams in the Chicago area. Since those defeats, Highland Park has dusted itself off and gone 6-0.
Along the way, they've unveiled a really nice runner in Jordan Reisner and could cause some damage in the playoffs.
Way to recover Coach Chiodo.
After all, the kid has almost twice the number of catches as the next guy on the list for most receptions. There's no doubt that Moutvic is an excellent high-school wideout, and one who has played in pain for much of the year. But one has to also take into consideration that Lake Forest throws on just about every down.
If given the choice of all receivers in the county, I'd take Nate Johnson of the Stevenson Patriots.
This kid is about as athletic as they come. He has speed, size (6-3, 195 pounds) and great hands. His 28 catches for 786 yards translates to 28 yards per catch. That's more than a quarter of the field every time Johnson gathers one in.
And not only that, he's a superb basketball player. I'm partial to hoop guys, I admit it.
Lake County-to-Drake pipeline? Go figure
Does Drake University like our area for football players or what?
On the way to looking up something else, I stumbled across the Bulldog roster and it was like old-home week scanning the names.
Here are some of the players prep football fans from Lake County might remember who are now toiling for Drake.
Former Grant star and News-Sun Offensive Player of the Year Pawel Zurkowski (quarterback); Stevenson alum Michael Bilton (wide receiver); Stevenson kicker Mitch Rasmussen, who is competing with Carmel kicker Billy Janssen and Lake Zurich kicker Brandon Wubs; Stevenson linebacker Ben Morrison; offensive lineman Dan Clinton of Carmel; Denzel Ray, sleek and speedy wide-receiver from Waukegan; and Tony Gianaras, a defensive lineman from Mundelein High.
And that's not even counting prolific high-school wide-receiver Joey Orlando of Maine South, a Cary-Grove player and two from Barrington.
All told, of 125 players on its roster, 41, about one third, are from Illinois.
In terms of production, Wubs is the team's top scorer with 11 of 13 field goals (45 yards the longest) as of this writing and 19 for 20 in extra points. Wubs, who is the team's punter as well, is remembered in these parts as one heck of a prep pitcher for the Lake Zurich baseball team.
Morrison is the second-leading tackler for the Bulldogs.
And with so many area kids on the team, how is Drake faring in the win column, you might ask? How about 6-1? Maybe that's why the recruiters from this Iowa school continue to sniff around the Land of Lincoln.
