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Special effort, but Grayslake North falls short

As he gathered his Grayslake North football team on Riverside-Brookfield's shiny new turf before Saturday's Class 6A state playoff game, coach Steve Wood essentially challenged his players to be heroic.

"One of the things we talked about over here was being special," Wood said. "We told the kids, 'One of you guys that wasn't prepared to be special was going to have to be special today.' "

As Wood added following the Knights' 21-14 loss to the host Bulldogs, Griffin Gawenda was darn special.

Filling in for injured star Dami Oladunmoye, Gawenda nearly helped No. 6 Grayslake North (7-4) upset the No. 3 seed. Riverside-Brookfield (10-1) advances to the state quarterfinals against No. 2 Prairie Ridge (10-1).

Gawenda, a 5-foot-9, 150-pound junior, rushed 19 times for 152 yards (both season highs) and a touchdown. He carried the ball 13 times for 132 yards, including a 49-yard burst into the end zone, after halftime.

"I was very nervous to have to take over for someone as good as Dami," Gawenda said. "But I had to get it done and step up for the team."

Grayslake North's effort was special too. Without their all-state candidate in Oladunmoye, the Knights came up just yards short of tying the game. With 2.8 seconds on the game clock, Grayslake North quarterback Jake Wright took the snap on second-and-10 from the Riverside-Brookfield 21. He completed an 11-yard pass to Matt Aikin, who then lateraled to Elliott Hochstein, who was gang-tackled at the 5.

"They knew it was coming, obviously," Wood said. "They had six guys waiting for (Hochstein) after we pitched it."

Grayslake North pulled out nearly every trick in its playbook, and Aikin was involved in all of them. The slot receiver's 25-yard TD pass to QB Wright - on a reverse, no less - opened the scoring in the first quarter. Aikin, the punter, gained 15 yards and a first down on a fake from the Grayslake North 26 in the third quarter.

With less than two minutes left in the fourth and the Knights trailing by the eventual final score, Aikin took a lateral from Wright and threw a 16-yard pass to Joe Geary in the end zone. The pass was ruled incomplete as Geary fell out of bounds.

"We've been working on those for a while," Aikin said of the Knights' trick plays.

Oladunmoye, the workhorse running back, was tackled hard after a 1-yard gain on the first snap from scrimmage and appeared to get his bell rung. He continued playing but never got going. He finally left the game with about eight minutes left before halftime, after gaining just 28 yards on 12 carries, and never returned. He watched the second half from the sideline with his shoulder pads and helmet off.

Wood would not confirm whether Oladunmoye suffered a concussion. The junior entered the game with 1,822 yards rushing and 26 TDs on the season.

"We just couldn't take any chances," said Wood, choking up as he talked about Oladunmoye. "He fought the whole time to go in, but I told him at halftime, 'Listen. I'm just not going to do it. I love you as my own son.' "

Gawenda, who had nearly 50 carries on the season coming into the game, provided a spark for a team that had just 4 first downs in the first half. After Bulldogs QB Ryan Swift scored on a 6-yard keeper to put his team up 14-7 on the home team's first series of the second half, Gawenda broke off his long TD run to cap a nine-play, 80-yard drive that included Aikin's fake punt.

"Hands down, his best game in high school," Wood said. "When we needed somebody to step up, he stepped up."

"We expected that from him," Aikin said of Gawenda. "He's been working hard. After Dami went down, we knew we all had to step up."

Riverside-Brookfield took the lead again when Swift hit wide receiver Dean Zigulich on a 6-yard touchdown pass with 3:32 left in the third. Zigulich (9 catches, 89 yards) earlier caught a 12-yard TD pass from Swift (21 of 34, 213 yards).

The Bulldogs threatened to score again early in the fourth, but Aikin intercepted Swift at the 2. Grayslake North's ensuing possession lasted 15 plays and covered 82 yards but stalled when Aikin and Geary couldn't connect on fourth-and-9.

Grayslake North had won its last five games, including last week's first playoff victory in school history.

"The team did well for Dami being out," Gawenda said. "It was a tough game. We battled."

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