Grayslake North wants to make a name for itself

The mother of one of Grayslake North’s newest football players emailed coach Steve Wood during the off-season to introduce herself and tell him that her son was transferring in from Maine South.

The last name: Perez.

For a split second, Wood’s eyes got big. He smiled. He salivated.

Could the new Knight be related to Matt Perez, the former all-state running back who helped lead Maine South to two state championships and earned a scholarship to Indiana?

“I emailed and texted all my coaches. I was like, ‘Is there any chance this kid is a brother or something?’ ” Wood said, laughing.

Turns out, no, Noe Perez is not related to Matt Perez. But Wood is no less excited to have the 6-foot, 230-pound sophomore in his program.

“He’s going to be good,” Wood said. “He really fits what we need. He’s probably going to play nose (tackle) before it’s all said and done.”

Consider Perez’s transfer good timing for the Knights, who just graduated all-area nose tackle Steve Sass.

“Not that he can replace Sass,” Wood said of Perez, “but he’s the closet thing we have that could resemble Sass. He could fill in and do some stuff on the offensive line, too, if we needed him to. But right now we’re just holding him down and letting him get his feet under him.”

The Knights might not have a Matt Perez on their roster, but they might have one of Lake County’s best three-sport athletes in junior A.J. Fish.

As a sophomore, Fish played three varsity sports. He played quarterback in football, point guard in basketball and scored 77 goals in lacrosse, earning second-team all-state honors.

Wood’s offensive backfield also returns leading rusher David Collins (537 yards last season). Wide receiver Josh Cokefair hauled in a pair of touchdown passes from Fish in a Week-9 win over Johnsburg, which gave the Knights (5-4) their first winning season in five years as a varsity program.

Grayslake North was not rewarded with an at-large playoff berth, however.

“It was our fault,” Wood said. “We let one slip away.”

Wood was referring to the Knights’ Week-2 loss to Woodstock, which didn’t win another game the rest of the season.

“We did not play very well at all,” Wood said. “We knew when we lost that game. We said that’s the reason why we’re not going to make the playoffs.”

Back to the good news.

Besides Noe Perez, the Knights have another transfer in junior defensive lineman/running back Brandon Jones (5-11, 180), who attended Lakes last year.

Junior Charlie Pine will be one of the Knights’ three starting running backs along with Collins and senior veteran Andrew Soulis.

“(Pine) is probably the fastest kid in our program,” Wood said.

The offensive line includes Geoff Gardner (6-1, 260), who started as a sophomore last season, and senior Kasen Christiansen (6-3, 255), who was an all-conference wrestler.

Connor Morrita, who had a school-record 101-yard interception return for a touchdown against Mendota last year, returns at inside linebacker. Junior Paul Hermann replaces the banged-up Jimmy Prince at a linebacker spot. Wood said Prince injured his elbow during a wrestling tournament and will be out until Week 5 or 6.

“He’s one we’re going to miss for the first few games,” Wood said. “But he’ll be back.”

Senior Jake Geary, who had 3 interceptions last season, returns in the secondary.

Katie Lahera, who was 16 of 19 on PATs last season, is back to kick.

“We’ll have a couple of kids on the field possibly going both ways, but our depth has been pretty good,” Wood said. “Our numbers are pretty good.”

Probable starters

OFFENSE

Pos. Name Ht/Wt Yr.

WR Josh Cokefair 5-11/180 Sr.

OL Geoff Gardner 6-1/260 Jr.

OL Charlie O’Donnell 6-4/280 Sr.

OL Nick Stanfel 5-11/190 Sr.

OL Kasen Christiansen 6-3/255 Sr.

OL Aaron Hoover 5-10/185 Sr.

QB A.J. Fish 6-3/175 Jr.

RB David Collins 5-11/180 Jr.

RB Andrew Soulis 6-0/185 Sr.

RB Charlie Pine 6-1/180 Jr.

SE Drake Davis 5-11/180 Sr.

DEFENSE

Pos. Name Ht/Wt Yr.

DE Vinnie Meixelsperger 6-4/210 Jr.

NT Steve Nowak 5-11/180 Sr.

DE Rudy Ceniceros 6-2/210 Jr.

OLB Adam Xiong 5-10/170 Sr.

ILB Connor Morrita 5-8/190 Sr.

ILB Paul Hermann 5-10/180 Jr.

ILB Jesse Davis 6-3/210 So.

OLB Alec Lambardo 5-10/190 Sr.

CB Jake Geary 5-10/160 Sr.

FS Jake Smith 5-10/170 Jr.

CB Matt Schlagetter 5-8/160 Sr.