Football Playoff Preview: Lake Zurich Bears Host Geneva Vikings in First Round

The will host the Geneva Vikings in their first round of the Illinois High School Association Class 7A football playoffs on Saturday at Mel Eide Field. Kickoff will be at 1 p.m., giving the Bears a rare opportunity to play in daylight.

There are a number of similarities between these two evenly matched teams — both finished the regular season with 7-2 records and 5-1 in their respective divisions. In the 7A playoff bracket, Lake Zurich drew the eighth seed and Geneva the ninth.

The Vikings began their season with a 27-14 home win over a strong Rock Island team in a nonconference matchup. The big play of the game was senior defensive back Andy Francis’ rally-killing interception in the end zone early in the fourth quarter. The 5-11 Francis out-jumped a 6-3 receiver to kill Rock Island’s drive.

Francis is just one of several athletic players the Vikings feature on defense; in this regard, they match up very competitively with the Bears’ defensive corps.

Though the Vikings have some talented playmakers on the d-side, they are not nearly as strong against the pass as they are versus the run. In Geneva’s second game of the season, a 33-24 nonconference win over Wheaton North, Falcons quarterback John Peltz passed for a whopping 318 yards.

By comparison, Lake Zurich’s pass rush has been much more effective against their opponents, typically giving up less than half of what Peltz accrued against Geneva. The only quarterback who broke the 200-yard barrier against the Bears so far this season was Matt Micucci of Stevenson, who completed 18 of 23 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns. Micucci, who resides in that small section of Lake Zurich that along with Kildeer is part of the Stevenson High School district, also kicked a 42-yard field goal in the . It was the second straight year that Stevenson executed a winning drive against the Bears in the final minute of the game.

The Vikings possess several potent offensive weapons in 6-2 senior quarterback Matt Williams, 5-10 senior running back Parker Woodworth and 5-10 junior running back Bobby Hess. Along with 6-2 senior wide receiver Ben Rogers and 6-1 senior wide receiver Tyler Hickey, Geneva features both a first-rate ground and air attack.

In the Vikings’ 35-17 conference win over St. Charles East on Sept. 9, coach Rob Wicinski decided to maximize his team’s ground game, exploiting the Fighting Saints’ inability to stop the run. Woodworth rushed for 183 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries and Hess chipped in with 86 yards on five carries.

Williams had one of his best games the next week during the Vikings' 45-14 rout of Elgin, when he threw for 226 yards and completed nine of 14 passes.

Lake Zurich is about as confident a team on defense as there is heading into the playoffs. Led by 6-3 senior linebacker Jack Lynn, whose aggressive ball hawking has wreaked havoc on every team that the Bears have played this year, Lake Zurich has a slew of defensive weapons, including defensive backs Chris Rantis and Grant Soucy, both of whom possess blazing speed.

The Bears also have a solid group of linebackers, including Taylor Coleman and Robert Rossdeutcher. Defensive lineman Rocky Triggiano also has proven his mettle time and again this season. They will have their hands full against Geneva’s potentially explosive offense that can put up big yards both on the ground and in the air.

The Vikings whipped host St. Charles North 54-7 on Sept. 23 for their fifth straight win at the start of the season, while outscoring their opponents 194-76. Their victory over the North Stars was followed by a tough 46-34 conference home loss to Batavia, which finished the season 9-0. Geneva made amends the next week with a 42-0 thrashing of Upstate Eight Conference rivals Streamwood.

The Vikings' other season loss occurred Oct.15 to South Elgin, 36-21. They finished their season on a high note, defeating conference foes Larkin, 50-6. Next to Batavia’s 6-0 Upstate Eight conference record, Geneva finished second-best at 5-1.