The showdown for first place in the North Suburban Conference and the NSC football title was on the line when Lake Zurich hosted Warren Friday night.

No. 6-ranked in Class 8A Warren jumped out to a 20-7 halftime lead over No. 7-ranked Class 6A Lake Zurich behind the strength of Illinois-bound running back Aaron Stewart.

Trailing 27-10 midway through the fourth quarter, the Bears put together a valiant comeback attempt, but the Blue Devils (7-1, 6-0) were able to seal a 27-17 NSC victory.

With wins over Lake Zurich (6-2, 5-1) and Stevenson (6-2, 5-1), Warren has won the tie-breaker for the NSC crown. But it wants to finish strong next week against Libertyville.

After a scoreless first quarter, Stewart (194 yards on 17 carries in first half) broke free up the middle for a 52-yard touchdown run 2:30 into the second for a 6-0 lead.

Then Stewart (306 yards on 33 rushes) broke two tackles on his way to an 82-yard TD run before he ran in the two-point conversion for a 14-0 lead with 6:52 left in the second quarter.

Warren’s Kaden Millbrooks recovered a fumble by Kaden Abrantes (48 yards on 16 attempts) on Lake Zurich’s next play. Then a 2-yard TD run by Stewart gave the Blue Devils a 20-0 with 3:08 left in the period.

Lake Zurich scored on an 8-yard TD pass from Reid Pfeifer (32 of 42, 276 yards) to Chris Chang before Tyler Vuckovic’s extra point cut the lead to 20-7 with 35 seconds left in the first half.

A 32-yard field goal by Vuckovic cut the lead to 20-10 late in the third quarter. But a 26-yard TD run by Stewart followed by Adam Benske’s extra point made the score 27-10 with 7:01 to play.

“We just knew that we were going to break them down slowly but surely (in the second quarter), that’s what we do,” said Stewart. “You’ve always got to keep your feet moving and never stop playing before the whistle.”

After Stewart’s last TD, the Bears responded with an 80-yard TD pass from Pfeifer to Chang on the next play to cut the lead to 27-17 with 6:48 to go. Then Vuckovic recovered his own onside kick to give his team the ball right back. But a huge interception by Warren’s Mason Durst really helped seal the Warren win.

“This is by far the hardest environment in the NSC, that crowd is tough so I thought our kids responded really well to that,” said Warren coach Bryan McNulty. “We feel like Aaron is the best running back in the state, his statistics kind of say that too, and our offensive line was really kind of the star of this game.”

Warren quarterback Reed Dangel was 2 of 4 for 17 yards. Besides Chang, Evan Peterson, Ethan Elliott, and Nick Gast had big games receiving for the Bears.

“He (Stewart) is a phenomenal player. They have the scheme that gets him going and keeps him going, and when you have a player like him you give him the ball,” said Lake Zurich coach Ron Planz. “We just made too many mistakes, we had one touchdown called back, and we had two turnovers in the game and they had none.”