Stevenson, on last-second field goal, beats Lake Zurich for share of North Suburban title

LAKE ZURICH – With a shot at qualifying for the state football playoffs, it was make it or break it when Lake Zurich hosted Stevenson in a North Suburban Conference showdown Friday night.

The 4-4 Bears had to get the win to reach the Class 6A tournament, but in the end it just wasn’t meant to be as Stevenson junior Caden An refused to be iced. An kicked a 38-yard field goal as time expired to carry the Patriots to an exciting 20-17 NSC victory to knock the Bears out of the playoffs for the first time since 2015.

Stevenson (8-1, 6-1) will host a Class 8A playoff game next weekend as its only loss this season was to Libertyville (8-1, 6-1) in its third game.

Lake Zurich (4-5, 4-3) found themselves in a see-saw battle in the first half as the Patriots took an early 3-0 lead on a 32-yard field goal An.

The Bears got on the scoreboard quickly as Alex Pirrone (145 yards on 26 carries) had a 53-yard run down to the Stevenson 7-yard line before he scored on a 7-yard touchdown run. Jesus Vilchis’ extra point gave the Bears a 7-3 lead.

Stevenson went 76 yards on just five plays as quarterback Aidan Crawley (6-for-14, 97 yards) hit Zach Hersh with a 36-yard pass before connecting with Thomas Simmons for a 26-yard TD play on a slant pattern to give the Pats a 10-7 lead with 5:18 left in the second quarter.

The Bears put together a 63-yard scoring drive late in the first half as big fullback George DiCanio scored on a 2-yard TD run just 20.8 seconds before halftime to make the score 14-10.

Vilchis’ 26-yard field goal gave Lake Zurich a 17-10 lead with 7:06 left in the third quarter. But a 2-yard TD run by Stevenson’s Christopher Thorndyke (67 yards on 20 rushes) tied the score at 17-17 with 1:45 to go in the third quarter.

A bad snap and a short punt by the Bears gave the Patriots the ball at their own 49 with just under a minute to play before a 15-yard pass interference penalty put the ball on the Lake Zurich 36.

Three plays later, An calmly kicked the game-winning field goal to set off a huge celebration by the Stevenson players and fans.

“I heard the crowd going he’s nervous, he’s nervous, I just took a breath and we got the result we wanted,” said An. “Obviously it wasn’t just me, the offense drove down the field like crazy in those 30 seconds, got me in the perfect position, and there are so many people that performed tonight.”

Crawley rushed for 85 yards on 11 attempts while Lake Zurich quarterback Reid Pfeifer was 7 for 10 for 63 yards.

“It was a typical, hard-fought Stevenson-Lake Zurich football game and this was a playoff atmosphere,” said Stevenson coach Brent Becker. “Both teams had a lot to play for. It was back and forth the whole game, and I just couldn’t be more excited for our kids.”

The Bears struggled offensively in the second half, but coach Ron Planz was proud of the effort his team displayed.

“It’s emotional. I feel for our seniors, they battled and we’ve had tons of adversity,” said Planz. “I’m proud of the fact that we continued to stay together and continue to fight and be a family. I was hoping we could get a little more offense going in the second half, but the field position in the end gave them a pretty easy chance to get into field goal range.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241025/prep-football/ans-last-second-fg-gives-stevenson-share-of-nsc-title/