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Grant downs Grayslake Central

For the second straight week it was the ground attack that got the job done for the Grant football team Friday night in its homecoming game.

The Bulldogs did have a tough time finding the end zone on a consistent basis, but they were able to secure a 14-3 Northern Lake County Conference victory over visiting Grayslake Central behind another outstanding defensive effort.

Grant (2-2, 2-0) had 295 of its 326 total offensive yards behind a superb rushing attack which was led by junior running back Noah Lautner with 153 yards on 19 carries.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Bulldogs got on the scoreboard first when Lautner wove his way through a lot of traffic on the way to a 10-yard touchdown run before the extra point by Chandler Carlson made the score 7-0 with 6:11 left in the second quarter.

After struggling defensively in the first three weeks of the season allowing an average of 30 points per game, Grayslake Central (0-4, 0-2) played Grant pretty tough the whole way.

Behind the leadership of senior quarterback Nick Paul (62 yards rushing on 20 carries), the Rams got into field-goal range late in the first half.

And senior Austin Wagner did not let his squad down as he booted a 34-yard field goal 1:23 before the intermission to cut the gap to 7-3.

"I could not be more proud of their effort, they never gave up, and they never put their head down," said Grayslake Central coach Jason Schaal, whose team had 185 total yards of offense. "We've just got to dig a little deeper and we've got to work hard to try to get the win."

Late in the third quarter Grant threw an incomplete pass on third-and-6 from its own 37. But the Rams chose to take a holding penalty to push the Bulldogs back, and Grant made them pay as a 37-yard run by Lautner with a 15-yard penalty tacked onto the end of the play put the ball on the Grayslake Central 32.

Quarterback Tyler Elfering (67 yards on 11 rushes) followed that play with a 26-yard keeper before Lautner scored on a quick pitch running left for the touchdown and a 14-3 lead with 2:20 left in the period.

"We had really good team defense, and really good O-line blocking," said Lautner. "We had good play calling, and I think we can go 6-3 at worst, but we've got a tough game coming up next week (at Antioch)."

After a missed Grant field goal attempt with 2:39 to play, Paul (9-for-23, 126 yards passing) tried to engineer a late scoring drive to keep the Rams' hopes alive.

But Grant's Lucas Mendoza intercepted a Paul pass in Bulldogs' territory very late in the fourth quarter to end any chance of a late comeback by Grayslake Central.

"You've got to give credit to Grayslake Central, they came to fight all fourth quarters," said Grant coach Chris Robinson. "We stuck with the running game, and if we're patient things will go well for us. We've got guys that love playing defense, and we treated this game like every other game."

Sophomore quarterback/running back John Bolton had 62 yards on 17 carries for Grant while Elfering was 3-for-8 passing for 31 yards. The Bulldogs ran for 327 yards last week against Round Lake.

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