Feel-good win for Grayslake North
Groggy, tired and probably a bit sad, Merrick Gentile was in for a big pick-me-up late Friday night.
The Grayslake North quarterback suffered a season-ending injury last week in a football scrimmage when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. He had surgery on Friday morning and was at home recovering by dinner time.
Around 11 p.m., his teammates were, unbeknownst to him, heading to his house, eager to sing the school fight song and share their glory.
"It will be fun," Grayslake North running back Dami Oladunmoye said.
"I think we'll all have to go into his room because he can't get out of bed yet," laughed teammate and quarterback Jacob Wright.
The underdog Knights, underdogs because they were missing Gentile, one of the best quarterbacks in Lake County, were in a jovial, singing-kind-of-mood because they had just beaten rival Lakes on its own field, 31-26.
Best of all, Wright, Gentile's replacement, had the game of his young career. He completed 12-of-22 passes for 243 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Remarkably, Wright had never taken a live snap in a high school practice before the start of the week, when he got the nod to replace Gentile. He's listed as a wide receiver and linebacker in the program.
"I wasn't even the back-up quarterback and coach asked me (last) Saturday if I've ever played (quarterback) in the past," Wright said. "I have. I just had to go back to my instincts.
"Coach knows I'm a wrestler and he knows I can handle the pressure. I went to state and I've won a few matches there and I just knew I could handle this atmosphere and what goes on. I was definitely nervous but I feel I handled it well."
Wright kept Grayslake North in a dog fight that was nip-and-tuck from start to finish. The two teams traded off on a total of six scores in the first half with Lakes taking a 19-17 lead into the locker room at halftime.
But Wright pulled some magic out of his hat when he spearheaded two impressive drives in the second half. He threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Elliott Hochstein in the third quarter that put Grayslake North in front 24-19. And then he found Hochstein again in the fourth quarter for a 63-yard touchdown pass that made the lead 31-19.
"I think (Wright) did something incredible," Oladunmoye said. "Merrick is something else. You don't find a lot of kids like Merrick. But Jake stepped in and did better than we all thought. I've known him since sixth grade. We've played more than just football together, lacrosse, too. I have a lot of trust in him. I know when I need him, he's got me and when he needs me, I've got him."
Oladunmoye certainly lived up to his end of the bargain as well.
It helped Wright's cause that Oladunmoye was nearly unstoppable all night. He set the tone early for Grayslake North by sprinting the far sideline for a 79-yard touchdown run on the third play of the game.
Oladunmoye rushed for a total of 169 yards and 2 touchdowns on 22 carries.
"He really played like an animal today. He broke a bunch of tackles and he kept the linebackers off me because they had to respect him more than they had to respect my passing," Wright said. "That was really nice to have."
For Grayslake North coach Steve Wood, it was nice to be able to rely on such a steady influence in Wright. He was completely confident that Wright could handle the job, especially after he saw how Wright came back from a special wrestling camp this summer at the University of Minnesota.
"It's so intense," Wood said. "For a kid to make it through that, it just changes them. We could tell when he came back that he was just a changed person. For Jake to step up and do what he did was so impressive.
"He put this team and this offense on his back with unbelievable moxie. For a kid who hasn't ever started a varsity football game to play the way he did was pretty special."
Lakes almost made a special comeback.
Down 31-19 with 4:18 left, quarterback Jordan Mercure engineered an eight-play drive that spanned only a minute and ended with him running in a 2-yard touchdown.
That cut the Lakes deficit to 5 points with 3:17 left. But the Eagles could not get the ball back again to get one last shot at the end zone.
"It was frustrating (to not complete the comeback), but there were also positives," said Mercure, who completed 14-of-22 passes for 246 yards and 2 touchdowns, both to Lucas Kuzmanovich (3 catches for 93 yards). "But we also hurt ourselves. They played good, but we didn't capitalize on some things and we made some (mistakes).
"It really sucks that (Gentile) was out, because you always want to go against the best. (Wright) played good though. You've got to give him (props). He got the win."