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Overstreet adds to record-breaking season at Grayslake Central

The records keep piling up for Grayslake Central quarterback Darryl Overstreet.

He has broken his own passing record a couple times this season and he did it again last week when he led the Rams to a 33-8 victory over Lakes, their third win in a row this season.

Overstreet finished with 278 yards, 3 more yards than what he tallied earlier this season in a win over Round Lake. His 275 yards against Round Lake was also a record at the time.

"His leadership and moxie were on display again," Grayslake Central coach Mike Maloney said of Overstreet. "Two of the drives he led against Round Lake were 85-plus yards. He's had a great year, and another record-breaking performance last week."

Overstreet completed 16-of-23 passes for 278 yards and 3 touchdowns in a game in which Grayslake Central was up 20-0 at halftime.

Colin O'Malley had 2 touchdown catches and Kurt Heerdegen had the other. Sophomore wide receiver Kaiden Miller didn't haul in any touchdowns but he was a consistent target for Overstreet. He caught 5 passes for 100 yards.

Meanwhile, the Rams also got rushing touchdowns from Luca Maravola and Jonas Sjodin.

"Offensively, we were able to control the ball and work the clock against Lakes," Maloney said. "Then, we did a really nice job of delivering the big shots we needed to score."

Getting defensive: While the Grayslake Central offense took charge against Lakes, the defense put together its best effort of the season.

Through the first four weeks of the season, the Rams were giving up 33 points per game. But against Lakes, Grayslake Central allowed just 8 points. The Eagles had a tough time getting their offense to go.

"We forced a fumble, we forced a lot of 3-and-outs and punts," Maloney said. "I thought our defense did a nice job of keeping Lakes off balance."

Joey Jenz forced a fumble for Grayslake Central and Payton Waigand recovered it. Jenz also had 2 sacks.

Important piece: After a 1-win season in 2019, Grayslake Central couldn't be happier with its three wins in five games this year.

"The vibe is very positive around our program and the biggest difference, I think, is that there is this believe with our kids that they belong," Grayslake Central coach Mike Maloney said. "The aura around our program is much different because of our players' hard work and the fact that they are producing."

One player who is producing consistently is senior Colin O'Malley, who makes plays in both the passing and rushing games for the Rams.

"Colin has been an X-factor for us this season," Maloney said. "He has explosive athleticism and creates matchup problems all over the field. Last year, he had a knee injury but he's done a great job of coming back."

O'Malley is also an accomplished sprinter for the track team and is trying to walk on to the track team at Michigan State.

Special season: What a difference a year (and some change) makes.

In 2019, Grayslake Central won a single game.

Now, the Rams are in the position to finish the 2021 season with a 4-2 record if they can knock off crosstown rival Grayslake North on Friday.

"We've won three in a row now, I'm not sure that's happened in seven or eight years," Grayslake Central coach Mike Maloney said. "Last week, we won our first game against Lakes in school history. Two of our three wins are on the road and it's always tough to win on the road. This has been a really positive season for our kids. The difference between us now and (in 2019) is night and day."

Balanced attack: Pick your poison against Grayslake North.

The Knights have a lot of different weapons and that was on full display last week in a 45-28 win over North Chicago.

Grayslake North had seven scores and seven different players got credit.

Quarterback Jacob Donohue (14-of-22, 266 yards) threw 3 touchdowns, to Nate Atwell (23 yards), Jack Kukis (18 yards) and Tony Hines (71 yards).

Christian Johnson had a 20-yard run, Zaire Knight returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown, Dimitri Cannon returned a fumble 34 yards and Cooper Perhacs nailed a 34-yard field goal.

"We scored on offense and defense and special teams, all facets," Grayslake North coach Corey Atwell said. "And our offense is so balanced. It just makes it really tough for the defense. They can't really focus on one guy. We have a lot of guys who can make plays."

Big rebound: Lake Zurich got a big win last weekend without its big gun.

The Bears rebounded from their 43-0 shutout loss to Warren in Week 4 and came back to pitch a shutout of their own in Week 5, a 49-0 victory over Waukegan.

The only thing that was missing was star running back Jack Dwyer.

Dwyer hurt his leg on the first play of the Warren game and did not return. He sat out the Waukegan game.

The good news is, things are looking up for Dwyer.

"Jack is questionable for this week," Lake Zurich coach Ron Planz said of Dwyer possibly playing in the Bears' season finale against Stevenson. "He's been working really hard to get healthy. It's our last game. It's his last high school game. He really wants to play bad.

"I don't think things were as serious as we thought they might be. But we do have to balance want-to and smart-to. We'll let the trainers do their work."

Bright future: It's been an up and down season for Lake Zurich, which is 2-3 on the year.

But a bright spot for the Bears in last week's 49-0 win over Waukegan was the influence of youth that is just starting to blossom.

Of Lake Zurich's seven touchdowns, six were scored by players (six different players in total) who will be back next season.

"We are a very young team," Lake Zurich coach Ron Planz said. "We've worked a lot on fundamentals and getting back to basics and just getting our guys reps. This season has been awesome for young guys getting the opportunity to step up and a lot of them did last week."

Junior quarterback Tyler Kamins rushed for a touchdown and also threw 2 touchdowns to juniors Leo Dlatt and Aleks Popovic.

Junior Ben Cooper, who filled in for injured Jack Dwyer, had a rushing touchdown as did junior Bobby Dlatt.

Senior defensive back Kyle Forbes was the only non-junior to score. He returned an interception for a touchdown.

Dual-threat at quarterback: There's been not just one but two quarterbacks playing consistently for Lake Zurich this season.

Except against Waukegan last week.

Tyler Kamins got all the reps as Jarred Meyers was recovering from an injury that he suffered in the Warren game in Week 4.

But usually, Kamins and Meyers rotate in and out for each other from one possession to the next.

"They are very similar," Lake Zurich coach Ron Planz said of Kamins and Meyers. "It was kind of hard to pick just one of them to start the season, so we just decided to use them both and rotate and it's worked. If one rises about the other, great. But if not, we're OK with that because we know we have two really capable quarterbacks."

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