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Scouting the Grayslake North Knights

Grayslake North's football team manufactured a five-game winning streak, dropped 53 points on its crosstown rival in its finale to produce a winning season, and never celebrated.

"I thought we would have won 7, 8 or 9 games," coach Sam Baker said of his Knights' 2018 campaign. "I was disgusted with our only 5 wins."

Starting the season 0-4 put the Knights in playoff mode in Week 5. They responded, only to fall short on playoff points and miss the postseason for the first time since going 4-5 in 2011.

While they graduated three-year varsity quarterback Austin Martineau, they return 10 juniors who started or played significantly as sophomores. Included are all-conference wide receiver Tony Hines (39 catches, 7 touchdowns) and Nick Fish, who moves from free safety to QB. The talented junior group also includes defensive back Dimitri Cannon, running back C.J. Johnson, offensive guard Jack Sisson, safety Tommy Keilwitz and nose tackle Chris Lowe.

The veteran seniors include offensive lineman Josh West, wide receiver Joe Swanson defensive back/wide receiver Jeremy Rowder (three-year starter), outside linebacker Tayo Oladunmoye, offensive lineman Brian Kenebrew and linebacker Matt Staudt.

"I think we got a nice group of guys," Fish said. "We've really come together throughout the summer, better than I've ever seen before. We've really built a culture here."

Fish (6-0, 160) is the brother of former Knights QB A.J. Fish, who was the captain of the 2012 Daily Herald Lake County All-Area team. As a senior that year, Fish was also named all-state in leading Grayslake North to its first playoff berth.

"I think I'm going play similarly to A.J. because we're brothers, but I have a lot of my own attributes that I bring to the team," said the younger Fish, who quarterbacked the freshman team two years ago and, like his brother, also excels in lacrosse.

"He's just a competitor," Baker said of his dual-threat and athletic QB. "We did captain interviews and when he did his, you could see he's just fiery, in a good way. And he's a good leader."

Swanson (6-1, 180) had 32 receptions and 6 TDs last season and could be in line for another big season. Baker said Swanson ran a 4.45 40-yard dash time at Winona State's camp. Swanson, who's added 20 pounds since last season, has scholarship offers from Dayton, Minnesota Duluth and Winona State.

He's more excited about his team this season.

"We're really deadly this year," Swanson said. "We have a lot of weapons."

Penalties were a problem for the Knights last season, and a repeat can't happen.

"If we clean up our penalties and stay ahead of the chains, we'll be OK," said Baker, whose team had 200 yards in penalties in their season-ending win over Grayslake Central. "We'll be explosive. We'll be fast."

The Knights also can't afford another slow start. They open against Waukegan (0-9 last year) and Deerfield (4-5), before facing three-time defending Northern Lake County Conference champion Antioch and Lakes in Weeks 3 and 4, respectively. The latter three games are at home.

"We definitely could have been better last year," Swanson said. "We had a lot of talent, but this year we're looking really good again. We're a lot more positive. We still have some talent, so it should be a good year."

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