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Grayslake Central adapts to numbers challenge

Football games for Grayslake Central this season have been heavily influenced by the numbers game.

When only 15 players tried out for the sophomore team, the ripple effects were felt throughout the entire program, and partly explain how the Rams are currently 0-4.

Early on, first-year head coach Jason Schaal met with athletic director Brian Moe and the two decided that eliminating the sophomore schedule would be best. Now, if opponents agree, the Rams play a junior varsity game instead of a sophomore game prior to the varsity contest.

Sophomores, and juniors who probably wouldn't get much playing time in the varsity games, team up to take on the opponent's sophomore team. About 23 players make up the Rams' junior varsity team, leaving about 29 players for the varsity.

“It wasn't an easy decision to make,” Schaal said of eliminating the sophomore schedule and asking some varsity players to move down to the JV team. “Some kids really didn't like the idea at first. Some kids saw it as a great opportunity to play because the JV game we have now is a full game right before the varsity game. Normally, a JV game is going to be on a Monday with no fans and a running clock.”

A potential problem with the JV games is that any player who plays in the JV game cannot play in the varsity game. In fact, he can't even dress to stand along the sideline.

As injuries have become more prevalent, the Rams' already small pool of available players on the bench continues to shrink.

“Now we're fighting injury and we already have some kids who go both ways,” Schaal said. “It's been really tough because we just don't have the numbers.”

Schaal, an assistant with the Rams last season, could see this coming.

Last year, Grayslake Central had a very small freshman team, and low numbers overall.

“We didn't get up to 20 players on the freshman team last year until the third week of the season,” Schaal said. “We knew we would be battling this with this group.

“I'm not sure exactly what this is all about, but sometimes these things go in waves and right now, we're at a low wave. We've been out recruiting kids, trying to bring kids back into the program but it's been slow.”

The current freshman team is in better shape, though. That group has about 36 players currently on the roster and will actually be showcased tonight in Woodstock.

Woodstock did not want its sophomore team to play Grayslake Central's JV team so the freshmen teams will face off in the normal sophomore game slot.

“We're just hoping that if we can get some wins going on all our levels that other kids at school will start to see that and they'll want to get involved, too,” Schaal said. “Winning always helps with numbers and we need to get our numbers up.

“Going into a season, you always wonder what your concerns will be, what your issues will be, you never think it's going to be your numbers. That's something that constantly weighs on you each week.”

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