North Chicago savors win over Round Lake

North Chicago football coach Glen Kozlowski breathed a sigh of relief after watching his Warhawks win their first game of the season.

"We finally did it and I am so happy for the players," Kozlowski said. "They've worked hard all season and it feels good to see them smile after a victory."

North Chicago scored 18 unanswered points and never looked back, as it defeated visiting Round Lake 24-10 in a North Suburban Prairie Division game Friday night.

Warhawks senior running back Keenan Handy, who returned to the football team after taking last season off to play basketball, scored on a 91-yard pass reception from quarterback Jermaine Garrett for the first touchdown of the game.

It was Handy's first touchdown of the season.

In the second quarter, he took over.

"I played football my freshman and sophomore years and I decided to come back to football," Handy said after North Chicago improved to 1-4 and 1-2 in the NSC Prairie.

"I just felt I needed a change in my junior year and then I chose to give football another try."

Early in the second quarter, Handy took a snap at quarterback and pitched the ball back to running back Dashon Williams, who threw a 29-yard pass to Daryle Pearson. Two minutes later, North Chicago defensive lineman Shack Shackleford recovered a fumble and returned it for 88 yards for the Warhawks' third touchdown of the first half.

"It was a long run," Shackleford said. "Their running back tried to run up the middle and when he dropped the ball, I just picked it up and started to run."

Round Lake (1-4, 0-3) could muster only 45 yards of offense in the first half and got into the red zone only once.

"We had too many mistakes in the first half," Round Lake coach John Coursey said. "We had our chances to score, but we kept making too may errors."

Round Lake scored in the third quarter on quarterback Anthony Gutierrez's 17-yard touchdown pass to Jorge Venegas.