Coronation time for White, Antioch

King of the court, and king of the field. All in the same night.

Yes indeed, Cameron White certainly came off looking pretty regal Friday.

The Antioch running back strolled across the field and was introduced as Homecoming King during halftime of the Sequoits' North Suburban Conference Prairie Division tilt against visiting Grant.

Later on, thanks in large part to his 2 touchdowns and 136 rushing yards on just 14 carries, he and his teammates were being crowned 28-14 winners.

The victory was monumental for Antioch, which remains unbeaten at 6-0 - its best start since the 1982 squad ran out to a 6-0 start on its way to a 10-2 season. The Sequoits, who were wearing new black jerseys that coordinated well with fans who wore all black for a "Black Out," also stay atop the Prairie Division standings (3-0) with Vernon Hills and qualify for the playoffs at the first available opportunity.

All of this just one year after Antioch limped to a 3-6 record and finished near the bottom of the heap in the Prairie.

"This feels pretty good right now - 6-0, clinching the playoffs," grinned White, who scored on a 10-yard run just before halftime to give Antioch a 14-7 lead at the break and again midway through the fourth quarter when he threw a 28-yard pass to DeVonte Miller on the halfback option. "This is just a lot of hard work in the off-season. And we have a lot of weapons on this team. It's hard to stop us."

It didn't seem like it was too hard for Antioch to stop Grant's rushing game, which has been fairly prolific in its own right so far this season.

Justin Cokefair ran Grant's option to perfection last week against Round Lake and rolled up 241 rushing yards on his own. Against Antioch, the Bulldogs managed 125 rushing yards. Total.

To compensate, the Bulldogs, who drop their first game of the year (5-1, 3-1 Prairie), turned to their passing game much more than they're used to, or comfortable with.

Grant quarterback Justin Cokefair completed 8 of 15 passes for 129 yards - the majority of which went to his brother, Jimi (6 catches, 90 yards). It wasn't a bad showing, but it wasn't Grant's game either.

"Not at all," Grant coach Kurt Rous said. "Give them credit. They're a good team and they took us out of our game."

At the heart of that was Antioch lineman Alec Paramski, who clogged up the middle and finished with 14 tackles.

"We tackled their fullback and quarterback and plugged up the holes and just stopped them. They couldn't run," Paramski said. "It's a wonderful feeling right now. It's crazy to go from 3-6 to now 6-0."

Antioch scored first with about eight minutes left in the first quarter after recovering a fumble on Grant's first possession. That gave the Sequoits the ball at the Grant 20-yard line and Matt Romani ran in a 1-yard touchdown three plays later.

Grant tied the game at 7-7 midway through the second quarter on a 1-yard Dan Hourihan run that capped off a 15-play drive. But Antioch answered with 1:07 left before halftime on White's 10-yard touchdown run.

Grant tied the game again (14-14) when Cokefair found his brother Jimi for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 3:46 left in the third quarter. But then Antioch owned the fourth quarter, scoring twice - once on a 1-yard Romani run and again on White's halfback toss to Miller.

"This is pretty great," second-year Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said. "We had this sick feeling after our last game last year because we knew that we were a better team than that (3-6). We put a lot of work in over the summer, so this is really nice to see."