Forest Lake High School

Facebook Video: Catching up with Lake Forest High School Football

What does all-conference running back Owen Williams think about the 2011 Scouts? Go to our Facebook page to hear what the returning all-conference runningback has to say.

Going on his ninth season, Lake Forest High School football coach Chuck Spagnoli has raised expectations following four playoff appearances in five years, including a first round win in 2010.

As he and his coaching staff held their July camp in preparation for the 2011 season, Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Patch caught up with Spagnoli and asked him about his two-quarterback system, how he will replace six starters on defense and if the Scouts can reach the lofty goals he has set for the program.

What's going on right now?

We are putting in pieces of our offense and defense so every day they are getting something new. And in addition to that they are trying to remember what they got the day before, the day before that and the day before that. Between 6-10 days they are just crazed with information. Every day we just talk about hustling, playing hard, having enthusiasm. If they don’t know something, ask. Don’t screw it up on purpose. There’s a lot to that. 

Is this the time you are integrating new parts of the playbook?

That’s what July is for. It’s for putting in offense, defense, kicking game. Everything is new for these guys. We have sophomores through seniors out there. Some of the seniors may have heard it before, but last year they may have been an offensive player and this year they are getting it new on offense or vice versa. For sophomores, everything is new.

When the season opens Aug. 26 against Buffalo Grove, what will we see different from a year ago?

The difference at that time is kids will be settled into a position that they will be playing full-time for the most part. So they will have a better understanding of what they are supposed to do. In addition to that, the game plan will widdle a lot of the mess out. Right now we are throwing so much at them, but honestly in each game there are only two, three, four, six things you are focused on for that week. It takes a lot of it out. Now we are throwing so much at them, it’s a lot to remember. In a game week, there are a few key things and you try and make it simple. Our whole thing is you got to play fast. If they can’t play fast, usually it’s because they are confused.

Jay Criche, Lake Forest High School | Teacher Love

About two months ago, we lost a great man. His name was Jay Criche, and he was a teacher.

He taught English for 30 years, 23 of them at Lake Forest High School. For most of that time, he was the head of the department, and he looked the part. He wore tweed sport coats most of the year, in weather cold or warm, and if I remember correctly, there were suede elbow patches on these sport coats. He wore small wire-framed glasses, a thick mustache, and his hair was dark, dusted with gray. He had a scholarly air because that’s what he was, a scholar. His lessons, delivered from a seemingly ancient wooden podium, were Socratic in nature, the students peppered with questions, his expectations high, his mind open and wanting to be surprised.

I took his course when I was a junior, and the first book we read was A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man . In it, Joyce’s hands were rendered large, cupped and moving, as if paddling through water. Mr. Criche asked if anyone knew why the artist had depicted Joyce that way, and I raised my hand. “Is he swimming through a stream of consciousness?”