Prairie Ridge’s option attack too much for Grayslake North
Lots of good things in life are tripled. For instance:
Triplets. A triple scoop ice cream sundae. Winning the Triple Crown in baseball or horse racing.
After Friday night’s Fox Valley Conference crossover clash with Prairie Ridge in Crystal Lake, the Grayslake North Knights will not add the Wolves’ triple-option offense to that list. The host Wolves gashed the Knights’ defense for over 500 rushing yards in a 56-27 victory.
“They’re a really good team,” said Grayslake North coach Steve Wood. “They deserve to be in the playoffs and they are going to get there.”
Wolves quarterback Brett Covalt accounted for nearly half of the Wolves’ offense with 250 yards and 4 touchdowns.
“It was all on the blocks,” said Covalt. “The line did a great job opening the holes and the backs played low, hard and fast.”
Running backs Zach Greenberg (137 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Brent Anderson (109 yards and a score) formed the trio that racked up first down after first down for Prairie Ridge (4-4 overall), wearing down the Knights defensively.
“We have had some problems with our offense in the past few weeks,” said Greenberg. “We have found a way to work together really well and it is showing out there the last few weeks in the game.”
Anderson was quick to compliment his quarterback.
“It was Brett making the right reads out there,” said Anderson. “He made the right reads and points started coming up on the board. Grayslake North came in thinking they were going to beat us and we came out strong.”
For Grayslake North (6-2 overall), missed opportunities and lack of execution plagued the Knights all night long. Trailing 36-13 in the second quarter, quarterback Merrick Gentile (game-high 358 yards passing) hooked up with Brad Baker (10 catches for 107 yards) for a 20 yard strike to bring the Knights to within 16 points with 20 seconds left. Then a Covalt fumble gave the Knights the ball at the Prairie Ridge 37 with 15 seconds left. With Grayslake North getting the ball in the second half, the Knights got down to the Wolves’ 1 with one more chance to get in, but running back Titus Booker was stuffed short of the end zone.
“Frustrating,” said Wood. “Merrick (Gentile) did a great job at quarterback tonight. “It was great to see the offense come alive, but too many turnovers and dropped balls. It’s going to be very hard to advance in the playoffs if we continue to play and execute like we did tonight.”
Booker led the Knights with 131 rushing yards.
Wood will have one message for his team this upcoming week.
“We have a lot of work to do,” said Wood. “It’s time for the players to decide if they want to put in the time and effort or get knocked out in week one of the playoffs. They will decide that next week.”