advertisement

St. Francis slips past Grayslake North

Two balanced offenses came to do battle Saturday as Grayslake North took on host St. Francis in first-round Class 6A football play.

The Spartans (8-2), though, were just a little more productive than the Knights (6-4) and prevailed 26-24 to earn a trip to Lake Villa next weekend to take on Lakes (9-1).

Grayslake North was without the services of Indiana-bound senior tailback Titus Booker, who had two games over 300 yards and four games over 200 yards this season but suffered a left hamstring injury in the regular-season finale against Woodstock North.

Knights coach Steve Wood said keeping Booker out of the game was an easy decision.

"He gave it a try. He's got a career to think about. The kids come first," he said.

But despite Booker's absence, Grayslake North's offense did put up a fight. Junior quarterback Merrick Gentile threw for 207 yards and rushed for another 87 yards. He ran for a touchdown and threw for two others.

"Obviously, it wasn't our plan to throw that much, But Merrick is a heck of an athlete. We had our momentum and success relying on him and the receivers. We did OK," Wood said.

It was not a night of big plays for either the Spartans or the Knights. Some big plays were erased by penalties, and others benefited from them, but for the most part both teams succeeded with steady ground gains of their own efforts.

However, what turned out to be the winning points for St. Francis didn't come on offense. The insurance points that came later showed St. Francis' consistency on offense.

The Spartans closed the third quarter at the Knights' 4-yard line. They moved football to within a couple of inches of the end zone. Quarterback Clint Bobowski kept the ball on the next play and appeared to have scored, but the officials ruled otherwise.

St. Francis kept its cool and pounced on the Knights on the first play of the ensuing drive. A Knights runner was tackled in a pile in the end zone for a safety, and the Spartans took a 19-17 advantage and led the rest of the way.

"A lot of teams would be ticked off (by not getting the touchdown). But ours regrouped and were resilient and the safety was a huge momentum change," said St. Francis coach Mike Fitzgerald.

The Spartans got the ball back as a result of the safety and started the drive at the 50. Four carries by Will Purdom, who rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown, were crucial, and the drive was capped when Bobowski, who threw for 193 yards, found Chris Smith for a 27-yard scoring completion.

"The offense and defense depend on each other," Bobowski said. "If the offense is down, the defense picks us up. When the defense is down, we come through. We were just a few inches from some big plays. But we stuck with it and grinded things out."

Grayslake North kept at it until the end. It got the ball at its own 16 with 3:46 left in the game and moved all the way to the Spartans' 18, where Gentile threw a TD pass to Eli Atwater with 52.7 seconds left for Atwater's second score of the night..

The extra point by Kevin Meyer, who kicked a 36-yard field goal, pulled the Knights to within 26-24. But the Spartans recovered the ensuing onside kick and ate up the rest of the clock.

"We're a family and we just want to stay together. We don't want to hang up the pads yet. We're taking it day by day," Bobowski said.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.