Lake Zurich rallies to beat Fremd

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:26PM

Forget any talk about "Bad-News Bears."

Lake Zurich rallied from a 10-point deficit with less than seven minutes to play to knock off Fremd 20-10 before a standing-room crowd of 4,750 Friday night in Lake Zurich.

The No. 7 Bears (1-0) got on the board on an eight-yard scoring run by Mike Shield with 6:54 to pay to cut their deficit to 10-7.

No. 12 Fremd (0-1) drove inside the 40 before turning the ball over on downs at the Bears' 27 with 2:25 to play. Then, Lake Zurich drove down the field with quarterback Zach Till and Jacob Brinlee, who had 17 carries for 135 yards, running the ball.

Till scored from five yards out with 55.6 seconds to play to give Lake Zurich a 13-10 lead.

"When it was 10-0, we all had a sense of urgency," Brinlee said. "For the first three quarters, we got yardage, but with penalties, we never finished anything."

Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz, who moved to the press box during games after a 2-3 start last season, was back on top and said, ""I can see things and try to make adjustments. It has worked pretty well."

Tim Sayre capped the scoring with an interception and 25-yard touchdown return.

Vikings senior receiver Gregory Lombard, a 6-1, 170-pound senior, had four catches for 112 yards in the first half, including a 60-yard catch that set a 30-yard field goal by Andrew Stark, for the only points of the first half. Lombard is the "little brother" of Notre Dame's 6-5 290-pound freshman lineman Christian.

Fremd went up 1-0 in the fourth quarter on a three-yard touchdown run by Justin Wallace, who had 30 carries for 116.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.