Nava, Lake Zurich look sharp

In the middle of the wildly active Lake Zurich defensive line is senior tackle Franko Nava. His 6-1, 230 pound frame makes Nava easy to find, but he has one other distinguishing quality that makes big No. 75 easy to locate - his bright orange shoes.

"I want my parents to be able to find me and, you know, just to be different," Nava said.

It was hard not to find Nava, orange shoes or not, in Friday night's North Suburban crossover in Fox Lake between the Bears and host Grant.

Nava collected 4 tackles for loss, forced 2 fumbles (recovering one) and had 4 other tackles in helping Lake Zurich to a 31-0 romp over Grant. The defending Class 7A state champions are now playoff eligible at 5-3. Grant, which qualified for the playoffs with its win over Wauconda last week, dipped to 6-2.

"I was very happy with the way (the defense) performed," Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz said. "All of our defensive lineman complement each other very well."

The Lake Zurich defense really flexed its muscle when the outcome of the game was still in doubt. Leading just 7-0 and with starting quarterback out with an injured hip, the Bears relied on their defense and Nava and the group came up big.

In a span of just under four minutes, the Bears defense forced the Bulldogs into a pair of lost fumbles. Each time it set the Lake Zurich offense up with field position deep in Grant territory.

"We were where we wanted to be down 7-0 at halftime," Grant coach Kurt Rous said. "But in the second half we just couldn't get anything going.'

On the first turnover, Nava broke through the Bulldogs' offensive line, stripping the ball from sophomore quarterback Leo Minne. The subsequent recovery turned into a Wade Self 3-yard touchdown run 38 seconds later.

Nava and teammate Willy Blechschmidt collaborated on the next forced fumble that ended up in the hands of Robby Wilson. Five plays and two-plus minutes later, Kyle Williams had his second touchdown of the night for the Bears and Lake Zurich had an insurmountable 21-0 advantage.

"All week in practice we talked about at least 10 guys to the ball," Nava said. 'We knew when Tanner went down we had to all step it up."

Andrew Maloney led the prolific Bears ground attack with 138 yards on 21 carries and a score. As a team Lake Zurich rushed for over 300 yards while holding the Bulldogs to just 66 total yards and 3 first downs.