On Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, the varsity football team played and won their homecoming game against the Mundelein Mustangs 41-0. With a camouflage-clad student section in the stands and solid plays on the field, the team ultimately hit the ground running and never looked back.
Libertyville started the game with a kick-off to give the Mustangs first possession of the ball. A few minutes into the first quarter, the Wildcats forced a turnover and gained possession. Shortly thereafter, sophomore Blaise LaVista (4) had a run up the field to snag the ball and carry it straight to the end zone. While the Wildcats missed the conversion attempt, LaVista’s touchdown put them on the board 6-0.
“I’m just so happy and proud of the players,” Coach Danny Schaechter, who is in his second season with the team as a quarterback coach and offensive coordinator, said. “What led to it is that they stayed together in the face of adversity. And that’s one of the greatest things that you can have as a team, no matter how hard it gets, that you stay together, you fight together, you love each other, you stay positive and then great things happen when you keep doing that.”
Both teams fought hard especially in the first quarter, despite cold temperatures and poor weather conditions that had hit the field. LaVista would go on to score a second touchdown, this time with a successful conversion, putting Libertyville up 13-0.
“I knew our team was capable of doing this all year,” sophomore Myles Batesky (72), a left tackle, said. “We had two tough overtime losses. Those two overtime losses were the difference between a 3-3 team and a 5-1 team. I think genuinely after this game, we’re going to be one of the best 4-3 teams in the state. Come next two games, we’re going to be the best 6-3 team in the state going into the playoffs.”
The two touchdowns scored by LaVista energized the Libertyville student section and allowed the team to gain a commanding lead. Following a running touchdown by junior Sam Seth (6), Libertyville jumped to a 20-0 lead, only one quarter into the game.
Seth, a wide receiver who also scored the last touchdown of the game to give the Wildcats their 41-0 win, said that he was “very proud of the hard work our team’s put in.”
The Wildcats continued to pull away throughout the second quarter and into the second half. Despite unideal weather and exhausting play from both sides, the game continued with both teams fighting for every yard. Ultimately, Seth’s third quarter touchdown would be the game’s last.
“We’re going to be facing adversity,” Seth explained. “We’re going to be facing adversity all the way. We just got to understand that this game is not like every single game. We really got to show who we are here. We got to dominate Mundelein like we have been and prove that this is a team we should be dominating.”
When the last few seconds ran off the clock, Libertyville players and fans celebrated. Coming off a previous year 21-8 homecoming game loss to the Lake Zurich Bears, the win boosted school spirit and improved the Wildcats to a 4-3 season record.
Athletic Director Mr. John Woods, in his sixth year with LHS, said that the team “faced adversity and you can either cry about it, fold up your tent, go home, or you can look at it as an opportunity to get better. Persevere, demonstrate grit, resilience and play Wildcat football.”
Woods also cited the game as “some of the best football I’ve seen us play all season.”
The Wildcats will play their next game at Zion-Benton High School against the Zee-Bees on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, hoping to boost their record to 5-3 for the season and keep improving together as a team.
