Libertyville routs Deerfield, earns rematch with Lake Forest

LIBERTYVILLE – The Class 6A north bracket opening round matchup between No. 2 Libertyville and 15th seed Deerfield pitted two Lake County stalwarts with a combined 59 playoff berths.

On Friday night the host Wildcats (9-1) added another glorious chapter to their history as they posted a dominant 43-17 win on their home turf at the Johnson-Brainerd Sports Complex to earn a round two rematch back at home next weekend with No. 7 Lake Forest (8-2), a 42-0 home winner over No. 10 Chicago Mather (6-4).

The Scouts defeated Libertyville two weeks ago for the North Suburban Conference co-champions lone setback on the campaign.

Behind an offensive line of Myles Batesky, Max Frazin, Rhett VanBoening, Andrew Langfeldt, Sawyer Kopaka and Carson Holmes, the Wildcats would rarely run into difficulty on offense. Senior QB Quinn Schambow (15 for 18, 305 yards) used pinpoint passing to throw five touchdown passes including a quartet to junior WR Blaise LaVista (six receptions, 176 yards). The first of those came off an alley screen on their first offensive snap just 75 seconds into the game for a 60-yard score.

The Schambow-LaVista combination found paydirt later in the opening quarter on a 34-yard toss with 4:34 left which gave the Wildcats a 14-0 lead after one.

After a 25-yard Ethan Weiner field goal pulled Deerfield (5-5) within 14-3 with 5:02 left until the break, Libertyville went on a 7-play, 65-yard drive that Schambow completed with a 32-yard strike to Steven Gavric putting them up 21-3 at the half.

The two remaining TD tosses to LaVista (41 and 8 yards) wrapped around an 11-yard Steven Strelow TD jaunt that Mason Strader topped with a two-point conversion run giving Libertyville a 43-3 lead entering a running-clock fourth period.

Schambow, an Oklahoma State baseball commit, slathered heaps of praise on his front blockers.

“That’s the reason we’re successful on offense,” Schambow said. “We can’t do the things we do without them. They’ve done it all year. They’re my brothers.”

The Warriors got two scores in the final stanza courtesy of a 13-yard Quinn Schimanski run with 7:49 remaining and a 28-yard Mac Jones pass to Blake Rubin with six ticks left.

Jones finished 16 of 30 for 206 yards. Schimanski finished with a combined 79 yards rushing and receiving for a Deerfield squad that returned to the postseason after just missing out last fall.

Wildcats coach Mike Jones feels like his team is hitting their stride at the right time.

“We’re getting healthier which is good at this point in the year. You want to be healthy and we’re excited that next week we’ll be (at) home.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241101/prep-football/libertyville-routs-deerfield-earns-rematch-with-lake-forest/