Grayslake North cleans up at Johnsburg

Grayslake North coach Steve Wood told his players in the postgame huddle to wash their uniforms right away due to stains from the Johnsburg High School turf.

The uniform stains turned out to be the only blemishes on an otherwise nearly spotless performance by the Knights in a 30-6 win Friday night in a Fox Valley Fox Division matchup.

“Last week we came out against Jacobs really flat,” said Wood. “But it was a nice to see our kids rebound and for the kids to play a complete 48 minutes and get a win against a really good 0-4 team.”

All of the scoring for Grayslake North (2-2 overall, 1-0 in Fox Valley Fox Division) came via special teams in the first three quarters. Running back Charlie Pine took the game’s opening kickoff 90 yards to get things started.

“That was a big lift for us,” said running back Andrew Soulis, who led the Knights in rushing with 111 yards on 23 carries. “It gave us our momentum back. I had one last week, and now Charlie has one. We knew all week in practice that we would take one to the house.”

The Knights then relied on their kicking unit to extend the lead. After senior Katie Lahera booted a 28-yard field goal in the first quarter, Wood called upon newly added sophomore Bernard Drewno with less than 20 seconds left in the first half. Drewno, in red cleats, showed the poise of a veteran by drilling a 42-yard field goal to give the Knights a 13-6 halftime lead.

“He (Drewno) is a soccer player that did not want to play soccer anymore and wanted to play football,” said Wood. “He is really learning the technique and he is pushing Katie, as Katie has been our two-year kicker.”

After Lahera kicked a 22-yard field goal to record her first ever 2 field goal-game, quarterback A.J. Fish (13-for-20 passing, 202 yards) connected with Josh Cokefair (6 receptions, 139 yards) on a 74 yard touchdown to begin the fourth quarter. Fish and Cokefair connected again for a 5-yard touchdown strike to cap the scoring.

Johnsburg (0-4 overall, 0-2 in Fox division) scored on a 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jon Torgersen (10-for-28, 108 yards) to tight end Mike Conroy. Torgersen also added 68 rushing yards to lead the Skyhawks.