Friday Night Preview: Lake Zurich Will Have Their Hands Full Against Cary-Grove

Last week, the Bears had their way with Fremd, their season-opening opponent. This week, in the team’s home opener against Cary-Grove, they’ll be competing against a stronger and better-balanced adversary.

“The schedule is only tougher this week with Cary-Grove,” said coach Bryan Stortz. “They play a very disciplined and attacking style of football. It should be a great environment for a solid game. It will be a great test for us.”

The Trojans have a new coach this season in Brad Seaburg. The 33-year-old Seaburg took over from Bruce Kay, who stepped down last November after compiling a 168-68 record over 22 seasons. Kay capped his lengthy career by winning the 2009 Class 6A state championship.

Seaburg had been Cary-Grove’s sophomore football coach since coming to the school 10 years ago. His record as the school's sophomore coach was 61-9-2, a formidable .847 winning percentage.

The offense-oriented Seaburg hasn’t implemented any drastic changes to the way his team approaches the game. The Trojans play an option offense and a 3-3 defense, and is a highly disciplined squad that doesn’t make many mistakes. Typically, there won’t be a lot of turnovers on the part of the offense or missed routes by the receivers. And the defense, much like the Bears, is extremely adept at picking up plays as they unfold. They also are fairly resistant to blown coverage.

While the Trojans could give a run for its money, they didn’t fare as well in the playoffs last season as the Bears did. After finishing 8-4, they lost a close quarterfinal game to Rockford Boylan in overtime.

Seaburg’s career as Cary-Grove’s coach got off to a solid start last week, as the team trounced host St. Charles East 28-0 in a nonconference matchup. Senior Corey Laktas, the Trojans' 5-foot-7, 155-pound running back, led his team, rushing for 156 yards and a pair of touchdowns, along with a two-point conversion.

The Trojans completely overwhelmed the Saints, outrushing them 389-24. As good as Laktas is, his defensive counterparts may be even better. The Bears offense will have to outmaneuver Cary-Grove defensive back Zach Marszal, who had two interceptions against St. Charles, as well as defensive linemen Sean Bryan, Max Kersten and fellow linebacker Kyle Norberg, each of whom recorded a sack in the opener.

In many ways, Cary-Grove reflects the style of football that the Bears play: ground-oriented offense with a solid if unspectacular air attack, and swarming, aggressive and extremely disciplined defense. The edge may belong to , however, with its deep, talented special teams squad.

The Bears also totally dominated in their opener, crushing Fremd 35-3.

“We felt that our boys played hard,” said Stortz. “We made some mistakes and need to improve, but overall we were happy with the performance. We felt that our special teams played extremely well and played a large factor in the game.”

One question that remains is who will be behind center on Friday night. It hasn’t been announced whether or not starting quarterback Zach Till’s sprained ankle will be sufficiently healed, or if backup Steven Kuhn will get the start instead.

If Kuhn gets the nod, the Bears should be fine. Kuhn went 9-for-13 and threw for a touchdown while rushing for two more. He filled in effectively for Till, although whoever is quarterbacking this week will not encounter the same porous defense that Fremd displayed.

Mike Shield (105 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Connor Schrader (142 yards) were nearly unstoppable against the Vikings last week, combining for a total of 247 yards rushing. It will be interesting to see how they fare against the Trojans’ much stingier defense this week.

In fact, the matchups across the field between these two teams look intriguing.

For the record, beat Cary-Grove 10-3 in a close contest on Sept. 3, 2010. The difference was a dramatic 65-yard touchdown run by Jacob Brinlee late in the fourth quarter. The Bears scored all 10 of their points in the last quarter of that memorable contest.