The Patriots beat the Lake Zurich Bears away on Friday, Oct. 25 with a thrilling 20-17 victory in the final seconds as they improved their record to 8-1. It’s the first time the Patriots have won the North Suburban Conference (NSC) since 2016 and snaps an eight year losing streak against the Bears.

Stevenson opened the game on offense where they marched down the field quickly after a 15-yard rush by quarterback Aidan Crawley ’26 moved them into Lake Zurich territory. However, a nice red zone stand by the Bears defense left the Patriots with no choice but for kicker Caden An ’26 to drill a 25-yard field goal opening the scoring.

Lake Zurich would not go down without a fight however, as Bears running back Alex Pirrone broke out into open field pushing his team all the way down inside the 10 with a monstrous 52-yard gain shifting momentum. He continued on the very next play with a 7-yard touchdown putting the Bears up to close the first quarter.

Following a Lake Zurich punt early in the second quarter, Crawley wasted no time driving his team down the field after a deep 36-yard connection to wide receiver Zach Hersh ’25 over the middle of the field, putting the Patriots on the Bear’s 26-yard line. Crawley followed the stellar push moments later with another pass to wide receiver Thomas Simmons ’25 for a touchdown, his 10th of the year.

The back-and-forth antics of the game would continue though on the next drive as solid initial field possession and a string of plays by the Bears saw George Dicanio punch in a goal line touchdown to close out the first half. Lake Zurich went into halftime with a 14-10 lead, and the ball to begin the second half.

“Rarely is this fixture anything more than a one score game,” varsity boys football coach Brent Becker said. “So we knew that it would come down to our performance in the second half.”

The Bears opened the second half with the same offensive scheme as the first, picking apart the Stevenson defense play-by-play once again. The Bears came knocking on Stevenson’s doorstep with the chance to make it a two possession game. However, a costly flag and a nice job by the Patriot’s red zone defense forced a field goal by kicker Jesus Vilchis, extending Lake Zurich’s lead to seven.

Stevenson refused to back down, storming down the field looking to tie the ballgame at 17-a-piece. They did just that, as Patriots running back Christopher Thorndyke ’25 found the endzone on the 2-yard rush; and an extra point by An equalized the contest giving the traveling Stevenson student section an immense buzz. 

“It was so loud that I honestly couldn’t hear a lot of the plays,” cornerback Frank Concialdi ’26 said. “I’m really thankful for the fans for coming and making the impact that they did.”

With a tense buzz felt throughout the whole stadium, Concialdi, who had suffered an injury earlier in the game, returned and blew it up for the Patriots with a huge interception, his seventh of the year, giving Stevenson the ball just as the third quarter drew to a close. With that crucial play, the Patriots had shifted all the momentum that a quarter ago was all Lake Zurich. 

“We just knew we had to make a change at the half,” Simmons said. “And after our first drive in the second half, we knew we had something going for us.”

Back-to-back unsuccessful drives opened the games final period until the third where Thorndyke dropped a stellar punt at the Lake Zurich 10-yard line with just under four minutes left to play. The Patriots defense held strong, forcing a three-and-out and with a poor punt by the Bears, Stevenson held fantastic field possession to walk the game off with 40 seconds to play.

The Patriots knew these last 40 seconds were crucial. A defensive pass interference call against the Bears set the Patriots up to be within field goal range. After a suspenseful running of the clock and a plethora of timeouts from both sides, under immense pressure, An hit a 38-yard field goal, his second of the game, between the uprights to end it all, and secure the win for Stevenson.

“Walking up there, I just kinda wanted to shut everything out.” An said. “I [could hear] the crowd chanting, but I just breathed, and was in my own zone.”

The win officially secured back-to-back home playoff games for the Patriots, as they look to avenge last season’s 31-6 loss to Lyons Township last year. The Patriots secured the #9 seed in the Class 8A bracket, and will face #24 Sandburg High School Eagles on Friday, Nov 1, at 7 p.m. at home. For the Bears, their season ends as they required a win tonight to secure their place in the IHSA playoffs.

“This was a playoff atmosphere tonight as both stands were amazing,” Becker said. “We’re gonna have a lot of momentum being 8-1 and it doesn’t matter who we face, we just need to take care of our business.”