Cary-Grove Grinds Lake Zurich's Ground Game To A Halt

The Bears knew that this week’s game against Cary-Grove would be a lot tougher than .

They didn’t figure it would be this tough, however.

Except for a successful drive late in the fourth quarter that finally yielded some points, was shut down by the Trojans' rock-solid, aggressive defense in a 10-7 loss.

“We knew that Cary-Grove plays smash-mouth defense,” said running back Mike Shield, who was held to just 12 yards on five carries and played a much better game on defense.

“We expect our defense to play really solid every week, and they played a great game. But our offense couldn’t get it going tonight except on that one drive in the last quarter. It kind of woke us up at that point, but it just wasn’t enough.”

Quarterback Steven Kuhn, who was able to play a composed, confident brand of football last week against Fremd, wasn’t able to generate the same balanced attack tonight.

The real problem was that Cary-Grove’s defense was able to shut down the Bears' running game, forcing offensive coordinator Brett Pearlman’s hand to rely more on Kuhn’s arm.

Because Lake Zurich’s offense became increasingly more reliant on their air attack as the game progressed, and therefore more predictable, the Trojans began to hone in on Kuhn’s passes.

The Bears' first possession, a three-and-out, was a sign of how things would go for most of the game. After a one-yard run by Shield, Kuhn threw two incomplete passes and the Bears punted the ball away.

After punt returner Josh Buckingham made a fair catch at his team’s 42-yard line, the Trojans put together a solid drive for their one and only touchdown.

Patrick O’Malley ran up the middle for five yards, Ryan Mahoney rushed for a couple of consecutive short-gainers, and Connor Carlson ran along the right side for another eight yards to put the ball on the Bears’ 21-yard line.

A 10-yard penalty knocked Cary-Grove back to the 25-yard line, but after a no-gainer by Carlson, quarterback Corey Laktas executed a slick reverse to John Pearl, who ran it all the way in for a touchdown.

There was a lot of back-and-forth for the remainder of most of the half, as both teams' defense jockeyed to give the other teams' offense unfavorable field position.

But the Trojans mounted one more successful drive with their final possession of the half.

Starting at their own 41-yard line, they benefited from O’Malley’s 31-yard gain up the middle. After Laktas found Pearl open for a 17-yard completion, Buckingham kicked a 25-yard field goal for a 10-0 halftime lead.

The second half consisted of more back-and-forth by both teams, but no scoring until the Bears’ touchdown late in the fourth.

Lake Zurich did manufacture a solid drive on their first possession in the third quarter after Grant Soucy made a fair catch on the Trojans' 41-yard line.

Kuhn hit Brandon Markert for a seven-yard completion, Mike Rantis ran the ball for seven yards and Kuhn found Markert open again for 15 yards.

But Zack Marszal picked off Kuhn’s next pass in the end zone, and Cary-Grove took over at their own 20-yard line.

With about three-and-a-half minutes remaining in the fourth, the Bears finally scored, although the drive didn’t begin too promising. After two incomplete passes, Kuhn ran it down the left sideline for a 13-yard gain.

Kuhn then connected with John Orlando for back-to-back completions, good for 15 and 33 yards. After another 13-yard gain by Kuhn put the Bears at the Trojans' five-yard line, He ran it in to the end zone on the next play.

The Bears tried an onside kick with just 1:12 remaining, but Cary-Grove recovered. Lake Zurich did get the ball back with 18 seconds left, but Kuhn’s incomplete pass to Orlando, his favorite target of the night, ended the game.

“We’ll come out next week and we’ll play Lake Zurich-style football,” said Shield. “There’s absolutely no doubt.”

“The defense was great just like they always are,” said Brandon Markert. “They fought for us, like they always do, and we (offense) fought for them.”

Bears Pause: The big difference this week was Cary-Grove’s ability to shut down the Bears’ running game. Last week against Fremd, Shield and Connor Schrader combined for 247 yards rushing. This week, they totaled just 16 yards. Schrader carried the ball five times for only four yards. Kuhn was 9-for-25 for 103 yards, with three fumbles, two picks and a touchdown. He rushed for 19 yards on 13 carries.

Shield was much more effective on defense, sacking Trojans quarterback Laktas twice.