Grayslake North holds off Wauconda
The substitute is quickly becoming the star at Grayslake North.
Senior Griffin Gawenda is getting more opportunities to be the featured back in the Knights' backfield, and he is taking full advantage.
On a soggy homecoming Friday night, Gawenda put together his finest performance in two years of varsity football - and the Knights needed every bit of it.
Gawenda rushed for a career-best 207 yards on 23 carries to help the Knights hold off Wauconda 21-14 in a Northern Lake County Conference game. Grayslake North became playoff eligible for the fifth consecutive year by improving to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in league play. The Bulldogs fell to 2-4 and 1-3 and will need to win out to earn a spot in the state playoffs.
Gawenda's opportunity is coming due to injury to Dami Oladunmoye.
"When Dami went down, we knew we had Griff," Grayslake North coach Steve Wood said. "(Griffin) is a really fast kid. He's a really intelligent kid, and he knows what to do when he gets the ball in his hands."
Oladunmoye is expected back next Saturday when the Knights travel to Grant.
North got the ball in Gawenda's hands early in the game as he rushed for 163 yards in the first half. His biggest rush of the night came midway through the second quarter.
With his team already up 14-7, Gawenda, an all-conference sprinter and hurdler for the Knights' track team in the spring, broke through the Bulldogs' line and raced 65 yards for the score and a 21-7 Knights lead.
"When I break away like I did, I can feel the form from track and field helping me pull away," Gawenda said. "With the cuts and being agile on my feet, I feel like my track training has helped me."
The 21-7 lead carried into the middle part of the fourth quarter when the Bulldogs got their offense moving again. Senior quarterback Antonio Acosta, who returned from injury last week, engineered a quick scoring drive by finding running backs Jacob Bicknase and Tyler Stankiewicz. Bicknase, who rushed for 179 yards, set up the Bulldogs deep in Knights territory with a 42-yard scamper.
Four plays later, Stankiewicz carried the ball and a few Grayslake defenders 9 yards for the score and Wauconda was within 21-14 with 7:28 to play.
"We put ourselves into a deep hole against a very good team," said Wauconda coach Dave Mills. "Our kids don't quit. We have 3 losses by 12 total points, and these guys fight to the very end."
Wauconda did get the ball back with 6:30 to go but could not solve the Knights defense. That final drive stalled at mid-field and the Bulldogs never got the ball back.
"We have let teams hang around a couple times this year and we keep talking about how we have to get better at that," Wood said. "With high school kids you never know. We have tried to clean that part of our game up, but obviously we still have a lot of dirt on the floor."
The hosts took the lead for good on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Austin Martineau to Elliott Hochstein following a Wauconda turnover. Bicknase accounted for the first Wauconda score on a 19-yard scoring pass from Acosta.