Air attack formidable as Grayslake North routs Lakes

Jacob Donohue and Grayslake North dropped some bombs on Lakes Saturday in Lake Villa.

Donahue was 11-of-14 for 272 yards and 4 touchdowns and led the Knights to 481 yards of offense as Grayslake North pulled away to a 38-8 Northern Lake County Conference victory.

"I saw some nice opens," said Donohue, a sophomore who had touchdown passes of 47, 5, 57 and 31 yards.

"Nathan (Atwell) kept running past his guys, so I kept throwing to him. Everyone had a big day. We all contribute and it feels great."

Donohue connected twice with Atwell in the first half as the Knights (3-1, 3-1) led 12-0 at the break. The second of those touchdowns came after Atwell caught a 64-yard option pass from Tony Hines, only to be caught at the two-yard line.

"We set up some good plays this week," said Atwell, a junior who had 5 receptions for 146 yards.

"We knew were going to be able to beat them deep, because they were playing us so tight. We got a couple of deep shots on them and got some good yardage."

Lakes (0-4, 0-4) was able to stay close thanks to the running of Amir Al Hindi. The sophomore, who is listed third on the depth chart, made the most of his opportunity to play after injuries sidelined the Eagles' top two backs.

Al Hindi would finish with 125 yards on 29 carries. He was impressive, running hard inside and dragging Grayslake North players as he helped Lakes move the ball down the field and scored on a 1-yard run then followed with a conversion run to make it 12-8 with 6:48 left in the third quarter.

It was all Grayslake North from there.

The Knights exploded for 3 touchdowns in the next 5:47 to put the game away.

Donohue tossed a screen pass to Hines, who turned it into a 57-yard touchdown. Christian Johnson scored on 4-yard touchdown run following a blocked punt by Noah Green. Donohue then threw a swing pass to Johnson who would turn it into a 31-yard scoring play.

"We came out a little slow," said Johnson, who would score his third touchdown of the day on a 57-yard run in the fourth quarter.

"But we came out in the second half and took control."

Grayslake North coach Corey Atwell said his team started slow.

"It just took a us a little time to get started," Atwell said. "It was a Saturday game and little dreary out. Once we started getting in sync, it picked up and we made things happen."

Despite the loss, Lakes coach Jordan Eder said his team is making progress.

"Overall, this is the best we've played all season," Eder said. "We were right there and we kind of just ran out of gas."