Big fullback Connor Schrader rushed 23 times for 241 yards and scored three touchdowns on Friday, leading visiting Lake Zurich past Zion-Benton 34-0 in a North Suburban Conference Lake Division football game.
The Bears (5-1 overall) held Zion-Benton to minus-4 yards on offense in a first half that featured numerous negative-yardage plays and botched snaps by the Zee-Bees.
Schrader scored on a 19-yard run in the second quarter, and on runs of one and 47 yards in the second half.
Lake Zurich scored early in the game on a safety, tackling running back Eric Gilmore in the end zone after Zion had made a nice goal-line stand.
Later in the first half, Lake Zurich scored on a 39-yard run by Sean Lynch, Schrader’s 19-yard burst, and on a 16-yard run by Lynch.
Schrader had 14 carries for 95 yards in the first half and really took charge after intermission.
Sean Lynch rushed seven times for 71 yards and two scores for the winners.
Zion finished with minus-3 yards rushing. Sophomore QB Dillon Appenzeller completed 15-of-33 passes for 105 yards.
“I’m proud of the way we battled,” said Zee-Bees coach Bob Strickland. “The score doesn’t show how hard we played on defense. Our offense moved the ball at times, but little hiccups killed us.”
On the other side of the field, first-year coach David Proffitt has his team 5-1 and rolling.
“Our plan was to run the ball and we were able to do that,” he said. “We still have a lot of things to fix. Our goal each week is to get better. We did some good things, but there also are some things we have to improve on.”
