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Grayslake North makes it four straight

Grayslake North's football team seems to be gathering momentum each week.

The latest evidence came Friday against visiting Grant.

Grayslake North earned its fourth straight victory to become playoff eligible.

The Knights put together a nearly perfect game behind quarterback Austin Martineau (12-for-25 passing for 185 yards), who three 3 touchdown passes and rushed for another.

Grayslake North's Jordan Curtis (15 carries, 136 yards) and Frederick Fischer each scored rushing touchdowns and Nicholas Wilson added a couple of field goals as the Knights coasted past Grant 48-6 in a Northern Lake County Conference game.

"We probably played the first game all year, from start to finish, offense to defense, all played very well," said Grayslake North coach Sam Baker, whose team improved to 5-2 overall and 4-1 in the league. "We're playoff eligible, but we need to get to 6. It's another step in the right direction. But we've got another test next week (against Grayslake Central). It won't matter how many wins you have, or starters returning. It's a rivalry game."

The Knights also have unbeaten and league-leading Antioch (7-0, 5-0) in Week 9.

On Friday, Grayslake North started out slowly in the first quarter but still got a pair of field goals from Wilson, from 23 and 33 yards, on its first two possessions.

Then, Martineau connected with his first of three TD passes, to Brett Lila for 43 yards as Grayslake North took a 13-0 lead with 54 seconds left in the opening quarter.

"The offense obviously didn't start off strong," Martineau said. "We didn't come out capitalizing on our first two drives. But our kicker (Wilson) did a good job to get points on the board. After that, we picked things up in the second quarter, came out firing in the third and finished the game."

Grant (0-7, 0-5) closed the gap to 13-6 with 8:54 left in the second quarter when Noah Lautner (15 carries, 77 yards) broke free on a 41-yard run, getting the ball to the Knights' 13. Two plays later, Kenyon Jones (15 carries, 73 yards) scampered into the end zone on a 13-yard run.

However, Grayslake North scored 21 unanswered points in the remainder of the second quarter. Martineau rushed and scored on an 11-yard run. Zach Carter caught an 11-yard TD pass and Curtis raced into the end zone on a 13-yard run for a 34-6 halftime lead.

The Knights added two more scores in the in the second half, as Elliott Hochstein caught a 16-yard TD pass from Martineu and Fischer scored from the 5.

Grant is still in search of its first victory of season, along with new coach Chris Robinson.

"We just go on to the next game now," Grant coach Robinson said. "That's been our philosophy this year, and that's 'Play the next game.' We have a lot of stuff to clean up and hope to clean it up in the week ahead."

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