Bears Prepare for Warren

If it's any consolation to the Lake Zurich Bears, they played their most exciting game last week. Unfortunately, they came up just short, losing to Stevenson 24-23.

There was speculation among bystanders sitting near the end zone as to whether Joseph Cassata actually made it into the end zone for Stevenson's final touchdown, but Bears coach Brian Stortz wasn't interested in speculating. 

"When a ref sees half of a player's body in the end zone, they're usually going to give him the touchdown," said Stortz.

Fans may want to debate the call, but the Bears have moved on. They're preparing to travel to Gurnee this Friday night to take on the Warren Blue Devils (4-2/2-1), and they know that they'll have their hands full playing them on their home turf.

The Blue Devils beat conference rivals Lake Forest last week 28-13 after jumping out to a 21-0 halftime lead. Fullback Tom Lindal and halfback Nolan Sordyl, running up the middle behind a huge offensive line, had big games: Lindal gained 145 yards on 19 carries and Sordyl gained 11 yards on 21 attempts.

Linebacker Gary Eppinger, crossed over to play fullback for the first time this year and ran for two touchdowns, one for 38 yards and another for one yard on his first two carries of the season.

"It looked like the offense was in rhythm for the first time here,"  Blue Devils coach Dave Mohapp said. "It took us six weeks and I don't know if we can build on it. I hope we can. We were able to throw the ball a little bit, we were able to distribute the ball to the two running backs. I thought our line played good."

What's impressive is that Warren seems to be heating up as a team at exactly the right time with two straight conference victories. Beating Lake Forest was no easy task; the Spartans started the season 4-0 and are one of the better teams in their conference.

The Bears will undoubtedly have a chip on their shoulders as they enter the arena against Warren. Coach Stortz didn't specify what the defense will be honing in on during practice this week, but he made it clear that there were some things on which to focus.

After yielding just three touchdowns in their first five games,  Lake Zurich gave up three more against Stevenson, including the final 80-yard drive that gave the Patriots the win.

Although the Bears don't face another foe with as formidable an offense as the Patriots possess for the duration of the season, they aren't taking any chances.

"There's some stuff we'll address in practice this week," coach Stortz said, " I'm still very proud of our defense. We hadn't played an offense like Stevenson this year."

While the Blue Devils' defense is solid, it's  not in the same class as the Bears. Like the Bears, they have do have two excellent ground gainers in halfback  Nolan Sordyl and fullback Tom Lindal.

Their marquee player, however, is offensive lineman Josh Dust, who's been creating canyon-sized holes for his teammates to run through all year.  The 5-foot-11 280 pound Dust also wrestled in the heavyweight division last winter, claiming a state medal with a sixth-place finish. An excellent student, he has attracted the attention of several Ivy league schools, including Brown and Columbia.