Brother Rice’s baseball field sits in plain view to the north of the football field.

For a two-sport athlete such as Jack Lausch, that view could pose a distraction.

Especially in 2021, with overlapping seasons for the two sports.

Football is at its midway point of the six-game season, while baseball practice officially started Monday.

For Lausch, a junior quarterback and an emerging pitcher/outfielder for the Crusaders in baseball, his thoughts are exclusively on scoring touchdowns, not preventing or even driving in runs.

“I’m not thinking about baseball,” Lausch said. “When I get some time, I’ll work on baseball. But my attention right now is 110% football. The football team, especially the seniors, deserve everyone to be all in.”

The 6-foot-3 Lausch is a dual-threat quarterback. He has a strong arm, and he’s plenty fast on his feet. Just ask Loyola, which had all sorts of trouble during an April 1 game chasing down Lausch on a 58-yard run.

His football skills have caught the attention of Notre Dame, which made an offer to Lausch to be a preferred walk-on.

Brother Rice coach Brian Badke expects many more offers to follow.

“Jack is a special kid,” Badke said. “He’s a natural-born leader. He’s the best quarterback in the league.”

Lausch, who has a 4.73 GPA on a 5.0 scale, has turned heads on the baseball field, too. He has received offers from Vanderbilt, Texas, North Carolina, Alabama and Notre Dame.

Those are big-time programs.

Lausch, however, is biding his time.

He’s waiting for a school to offer him a chance to play both sports in college.

“I love both sports,” he said. “I have fun playing both.”

While the prospect of playing football and baseball at a major Division I college is daunting, particularly from a time commitment perspective, Lausch appears steadfast to do both.

Badke wouldn’t bet against his prized quarterback, who also is the team’s punter, pulling off the feat.

“Jack can do whatever he wants,” Badke said. “He has such a high ceiling. He’s going to accomplish whatever he sets out to do. He’s just an amazing kid.”

Looks can be deceiving:Reavis coach Tim Zasada took a look across the field before a Week 3 game against T.F. South and didn’t particularly like the view.

“If you looked at their size, you would think we didn’t stand a chance,” Zasada said.

After the Rebels (2-1) scored on their first series of the game to grab a 7-0 lead, it appeared Zasada’s assessment was accurate.

“It looked like it could get ugly,” Zasada said.

The Rams (2-1), however, trailed 7-2 halftime and put together an impressive go-ahead drive late in the fourth quarter to earn a 17-14 win.

Robert Jennings’ 19-yard touchdown run was the difference for the Rams, who held off a final last-second drive by T.F. South.

“We got the ball back with seven minutes to go in the game,” Zasada said. “Not only did we need to score, we didn’t want to give them the ball back with a lot of time on the clock.”

The Rams ate six minutes off the clock, leaving T.F. South without much time to produce any late heroics.

“Our defense made some big plays,” Zasada said. “I haven’t seen a group of kids celebrate in the locker room like our players did in a long time. It was fun to see them so excited. You can’t measure effort, energy and heart.”

Did you know? Lincoln-Way East, the defending Class 8A state champion, has outscored its first three opponents 114-14. The Griffins defeated Bolingbrook (42-14), Homewood-Flossmoor (31-0) and Lincoln-Way Central (41-0).