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Forward-thinking Graysake N. tunes up with a win

As quickly as Jeremiah Myles' end-zone tackle triggered an onslaught of points for Grayslake North's football team, his focus following the Knights' lopsided win turned to their Week-9 opponent.

Grayslake North's 47-14 win over visiting Grayslake Central on Friday night gives the Knights a chance to earn a share of the inaugural Northern Lake County Conference championship when they visit undefeated Antioch next week.

"Right now, actually, the mentality switches to Antioch," said Myles, a senior outside linebacker whose safety helped the Knights bust out to a 19-0 lead after one quarter. "It should be a good game. It should be a good battle."

Grayslake North improved to 7-1 and 5-1 with their fifth win in a row since dropping their NLCC opener to Lakes.

"I don't believe we're better (since the Lakes game). I just believe that we're more mentally prepared," Myles said. "We weren't mentally ready for that game. I think we just tripped up."

While Grayslake North beat Grayslake Central for the fifth year in a row, the victory was costly. Knights veteran defensive lineman Justin Bock suffered a torn ACL, coach Steve Wood said, and linebacker/tight end Zach Carter also injured his knee, although Wood ruled out an ACL. Knights tight end Payton Campbell didn't play after hurting his knee against Grant last Saturday.

"It's football," Wood said.

Grayslake Central (1-7, 1-5) was reeling even before the game started, as three-year varsity running back Mikey Andrews was on crutches after tearing up his knee against North Chicago last week. He will have surgery later this month to repair his ACL, MCL and meniscus.

"Unfortunately, we lost a great player, a captain and a great leader," Rams coach Jason Schaal said. "My heart bleeds for that kid. He's done everything we've asked him to do. To have his high-school career end like that is tough."

"I feel awful for him," said Wood, who talked to Andrews before the game. "No matter how bad you want to win, you hate to see that."

Wood's own standout running back, Griffin Gawenda, scored 3 touchdowns, including one on a kickoff return.

Gawenda's 8-yard run opened the scoring on the game's opening possession, one play after quarterback Austin Martineau hit Brett Lila for a 16-yard gain on fourth-and-11 from the 24. Danny Perez's 32-yard field goal made it 10-0.

Myles then sniffed out a screen pass on third-and-34 from the 4 and dropped receiver Bryce Gniadek in the end zone for a safety. Gawenda returned the ensuing kickoff 65 yards to the end zone to hike the Knights' lead to 19-0. Gawenda (11 carries, 103 yards) and Peter Stanfel had 1-yard TD runs in the second quarter, and Martineau's 15-yard scoring pass to Lila made it 40-0 at halftime.

Grayslake Central had just 21 yards of offense at halftime. The Rams got a pair of TD passes from Sam Lennartz (18-of-26 passing, 145 yards) to Peter Brewster in the second half, which featured a running clock the entire time.

Frederick Fischer rushed 6 times for 77 yards and a touchdown in the second half for Grayslake North.

"They got a heck of a program," Schaal said. "They were firing on all cylinders tonight."

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