Grayslake N. gets defensive

It's tough to get your program going when the opposing offense keeps going up and down the field.

Grayslake North wants to put a stop to all this, naturally.

So after allowing 377 points (most in the Fox Valley Fox) in their inaugural season two years ago and yielding 353 (most in the FVC Fox) more last fall, the Knights are going in a different direction.

They've ditched their old multiple-front scheme, which head coach Steve Wood helped teach when he assisted Vito Andriola at Grayslake, and have employed a 3-5, which features three lineman and five linebackers.

Lake Zurich, Libertyville and Cary-Grove are among the teams that play the defense, which seems to be gaining in popularity.

"We've gone to a whole new system," Wood said. "We got some really good friends who are coaches over at Libertyville and they've really helped us adapt to that 33 stack (or 3-5).

"We're a lot faster on defense this year," Wood added. "The defenses we've played the last couple of years have been really good when the kids are fresh and they're not a step slow. But when they get a step slow, it's like opening the floodgates and here we go. Each kid had some really big responsibilities. We'd do a great job when we weren't tired. But no matter how much we conditioned, at some point you're always going to get tired and you're going to be a step slower than you were. That's when we really struggled with that defense."

So far, so good. While the Knights won't get to fully evaluate their new defensive scheme and watch their players execute it until tonight's season opener at home against Lakes, the energy level in practice has been good.

"It's a lot more exciting defense for kids," Wood said. "We've been really pleased with it. The kids have really responded. We had a great 7-on-7 season this year with it, and our scrimmages that we've had there, there's just been a lot more whooping and hollering from the defense.

"When you're talking high school, emotions, I mean, that's a key to success."

The Knights will rely on veteran defensive players Lanre Johnson, Bobby Guo, Bill Smith and Ross Sauer to lead the charge. Johnson earned all-conference honors last year.

Offensively, Seth Foster replaces the graduated Nick Harrington at quarterback. The returnees include all-FVC tight end Jimmy Butler, fullback Mike Morales, wingback Drew Doering (who played split end last year), split end Brandon Schroth, tackle Anthony Muir, guard Ryan Gutierrez and center Ryan Ornstein.

"Our offensive line is going to be the strength of our program, without a doubt," Wood said.

The Knights played much better as an offensive unit last year than they did in 2006. They graduated all-conference running back Robbie Nesbitt (Carthage College).

"He's really about all we had," Wood said. "Every team knew that he was going to be getting the ball, and we still rushed the ball pretty well. We're excited about our running backs this year. We have three pretty good ones, I think, who we can give the ball to at any time."

The Knights went only 1-8 last year after going winless in their first season, but Wood is happy with the direction of his program.

"Without a doubt," he said. "Even last year, we were so much better than we were the year before. Obviously we won only one game. (But) we had a couple of injuries that kind of hurt us in that category. Just our overall competitiveness last year was much better than the year before. We're looking to build on that. I think this year we're going to continue to get better."