Last Friday, the Libertyville varsity football team defeated the Lakes Eagles, 40-6, and finished their season unscathed at 9-0 after the last cross-over game in the North Suburban Conference.
This was a matchup of division champions facing off against each other for the last time. Lakes, the champ of the Prairie Division, had previously won six games in a row before coming into Walter E. Johnson Stadium to play the Wildcats. LHS won the Lake Division, which made this game an unofficial championship for the NSC.
With a steady rainfall, the Cats ran onto the field for the last time in the regular season led by senior defensive end Ben Kimpler. After both teams traded punts in their first possession, the Cats found the end zone in a way that has happened quite a few times this season: Quarterback Riley Lees(11 rushes, 142 yards, 2TDs), took off running along the sideline and 62 yards later, he put his team up 6-0.
In the second quarter, the Wildcat offense found its stride with big plays from the receiving core. A 40-yard screen play to Henry Schmidt setup Lees’s second touchdown of the night, a 15-yard scamper. After running back Noah Moderwell punched in the two-point conversion, LHS was up 14-0. On the other side of the ball, the Lakes offense had trouble all night getting into any rhythm with multiple dropped passes. The LHS defensive line kept the Lakes running attack bottled up most of the night, as well as forcing three turnover on downs.
After a terrific Lakes punt pinned the Cats on their own one-yard line, the LHS offense promptly marched down the field for a nine play, 99-yard touchdown drive. During this drive, it was clear that the offensive line had started to impose their will on the Lakes defensive front. Moderwell finished it off with a four-yard score (10 rushes, 77 yards, 2 TDs). LHS was then up 20-0 with 4:15 left in the opening half. On the next Lakes possession, Kimpler sacked the quarterback on 4th and 2 to give the Cats the ball back with great field position. The Wildcats took advantage of that turnover with a 25-yard Lees touchdown pass to Cam Shaffer in the back of the end zone. LHS took a comfortable 26-0 lead into halftime.
In the second half, it was more of the same as the Cats put up two more scores in the third quarter to induce a running clock. Once the final whistle blew, the Cats had done something that hasn’t been done since 2004 in finishing the regular season 9-0. That team ended up going 14-0 and winning the state championship.
The next night, the team found out that they are the number-three seed in the 7A division of the IHSA playoffs, with a first-round matchup against Downers Grove North on Friday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. in their home stadium. All tickets will be five dollars and the gates will open at 6 p.m.
