Vernon Hills rolls past Grayslake Central
Grayslake Central had seen this before, playing against Vernon Hills on the opening night of the football season.
Grayslake Central's starting quarterback takes a snap from center in the first quarter, runs and injures his knee. It happened last year to Sam Lennartz at Vernon Hills, and it happened again Friday night at Grayslake Central.
With the Rams marching in a scoreless game, QB Ben Vogeler dropped back to pass on first down from the 20 and crumbled to the ground, untouched, injuring his right knee.
"I planted it to make a cut and it just buckled on me," said Vogeler, who left the field on crutches and never returned to the game after getting hurt with 3:30 left in the opening quarter.
The two teams saw the game play out like it has in the past, too, and that was good news for Vernon Hills. Senior tailback Jake Morris rushed for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns in the first half, and the Cougars pulled away after halftime en route to a 38-21 win.
"I think you make your biggest jump from Week 1 to Week 2," coach Bill Bellecomo said after his Cougars beat the Rams for the fourth year in a row on Opening Night. "We thought we made some mistakes tonight. The good thing is we overcame some adversity."
Morris, who also started at linebacker, cramped up and carried only once in the second half (for 3 yards). He had touchdown runs of 12 and 48 yards in the first half in helping the Cougars build a 22-7 lead after spotting Grayslake Central a 7-0 advantage.
"I'm not used to playing both ways yet," said Morris, who started at cornerback on the Cougars' state runner-up team as a sophomore two years ago. "I'll be fine next week."
The Cougars operated out of a five-receiver set most of the night, but Morris ran the running game a huge boost. He ran behind Roman Magazo, Maximos Xu, Bradley Gothelf, Jack Peterson and Nathan Truger. The unit also protected quarterback Derek Jarrell, who completed 31 of 43 passes for 258 yards and was not sacked. Jarrell also threw 3 conversion passes to Quinn Geren, who had 13 receptions for 70 yards.
"We just want to show our dominance this year," Morris said. "We want to show that we'll run over you and pass over you. We're not just a passing team."
Jarrell also threw a 13-yard TD pass to Justin Morris (Jake's brother) and connected with Giovanni Zullo from 23 yards out. Jarrell scored from 4 yards out, as well.
Nick Paul's 10-yard run from the QB spot, after Vogeler went out, put the Rams up 7-0 late in the first quarter, but Vernon Hills responded immediately. Jake Morris' 56-yard run led to his touchdown from 12 yards out. Morris' burst up the middle from 48 yards out had the visitors up 16-7 early in the second quarter.
Paul finished with 105 rushing yards for Grayslake Central.
"We talk about how football teaches so many life lessons," said Rams coach Jason Schaal, whose team lost two other starters, as well. "(Injuries) are part of the game. (Vogeler's injury) was a fluke thing."