LZ Bears Football Team Displays A Balanced Attack In Big Win Over Fremd

The Lake Zurich Bears football team thoroughly dominated Fremd in its season opener on Friday, both on offense and defense.

This came despite starting quarterback Zach Till being sidelined due to a sprained ankle he suffered in practice. Till's injury meant that backup quarterback Steven Kuhn, normally a wide receiver, would need to fill in. In a way, it was a fortuitous development: Kuhn played with the poise of a seasoned veteran, directing a virtually error-free offense. His solid play demonstrated that the Bears have a lot of depth at the quarterback position, giving coach Bryan Stortz and first-season offensive coordinator Brett Pearlman a great degree of flexibility. At 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, Kuhn is built more like a classic quarterback than the 5-foot-10, 170 pound Till. Look for the Bears’ second-year starting QB to return for the Bears home game debut this Friday against Cary-Grove.

Lake Zurich opened against Fremd last year as well, defeating them 20-10. That game, as the score indicates, was much closer than this year’s contest. After Fremd scored first in the first quarter of last year's game on a 30-yard field goal by Andrew Stark, the score remained 3-0 until the Bears erupted for 20 points in the third quarter. The Vikings answered with a touchdown for a 20-10 Lake Zurich lead, and neither team scored again. Mike Shield ran for an 8-yard touchdown, Till scored on a 4-yard run and Tim Sayre returned an interception 25 yards for the final points of the quarter. Fremd actually had more first downs in that game, 15 compared to 13 for the Bears. Vikings quarterback Rich Concildi was a solid 17-for-28 and 271 yards with a touchdown and an interception, while Till was 4-for-7 and 91 yards. The Bears’ Jacob Brinlee was the game’s rushing leader with 111 yards on 16 carries, while the Vikings' running back Justin Wallace carried the ball 31 times for 101 yards.

This year, Lake Zurich mounted a 21-3 lead by halftime. When the Vikings went three-and-out on their initial possession to open the third quarter and the Bears subsequently scored another touchdown, the game was for the most part over. Kuhn passed for 55 yards, going 9-for-13. He had two rushing touchdowns, both of them short runs into the end zone, and passed for another. He also had 29 rushing yards. Kuhn looked very comfortable executing handoffs to running backs Mike Shield and Connor Schrader, and his play-action fakes were executed smoothly almost every time. Schrader (13 carries, 142 yards) and Shield (10 carries, 105 yards and two touchdowns) garnered the lion’s share of Lake Zurich’s yardage, combining for a total of 247 yards between them.

As good as the offense was, the defense also was golden, barely allowing the Vikings to cross midfield throughout the game. Bears punter Mark Weber repeatedly pinned Fremd deep in their territory, preventing them from ever gaining decent field position. Jack Lynn was in the face of the Vikings' receivers throughout the game, demonstrating his uncanny ability to discern routes before they unfold. His well-honed instinct to smell out a play as it’s evolving is reminiscent of how former linebacker J.J. Raffelson played the position. Speedy defensive back Chris Rantis was also his usual impressive self, also interfering with Fremd's passing routes throughout the contest.

The U13 Boys Ela Elite soccer team coach Nour Bensoud wanted to be sure that he didn’t receive undue credit for his team’s tournament victory in Milwaukee several weeks ago.

”I have only been with this team for three weeks now,” said Bensoud. “Any coaching credit will have to go to Jason Braznell, who coached this team last year and to the coaching staff of the Ela Soccer Club in general, who do an excellent job working with the kids on their technique. We not only teach them soccer but we teach them how to be good people as well.”

Bensoud discussed the importance of goalkeeper Dylan Ruzbasan, who he feels has a bright future as a college player and possibly as a pro.

“I definitely think that Dylan is one of the best goalkeepers in the state,” said Bensoud. “We also have a bunch of excellent defenders who did very well in this tournament. We only gave up one single goal throughout the whole tournament and that is a testament on how well our team played defensively.”

Bensoud also cited midfielders Kyle Owen and Luke Kuhn, who have been consistently excellent at controlling the tempo of every game that Bensoud has coached so far. Bensoud also mentioned Jordan Fleita, Adan Flores and the hard work of Brandon Klett as the heart of the team’s attack game.

Bensoud encourages all parents whose children show an interest in playing soccer to enroll them in Ela Soccer. “The experience that the kids will go through is tremendous,” he said.