Simply 'Z' best for Knights

Julio Zamora took this one seriously, and it showed.

Zamora led the Grayslake North boys soccer team to its first outright Fox Valley Conference Fox Division championship Tuesday night, scoring his first hat trick of the season, as the Knights rolled past visiting Crystal Lake Central 4-2.

A talented junior striker and veteran for Grayslake North, Zamora had extra incentive coming into the match, which proved to be his best one of the season.

"I really haven't taken the whole season seriously and had a speech given to me (Monday) from the Coach at practice," said Zamora, referring to head coach Adam DeCaluwe. "I just needed to take things more seriously and that's why I put three balls in the back of the net."

Zamora's 3 goals hiked his season total to 11. He netted 19 last year.

"It's a big change," Zamora said. "They relied on me more last year to score. I'm more of a team player (now) and distribute the ball more. I don't have to dribble and take on five players. I just pass the ball and look for the open players."

Grayslake North (14-6, 8-2) has relied on Zamora for more than just scoring this season.

"This year, it's been a different type of leadership," DeCaluwe said. "He's allowed other players to become better players. As a result, he hasn't had the (goal) output that he had in years before."

Grayslake North lost its first two FVC Fox games, but Tuesday's win marked the Knights' eighth straight win in the division.

James Gianneschi also scored for Grayslake North, which led 3-1 at halftime.

"We came and did what we needed to do," DeCaluwe said. "We're ending the season on the right note. We've got one of our goals and it's on to the next one."

Crystal Lake Central (3-17, 1-19) got its goals from Brian Gonzalez and Danny DeCoster.

"Give credit where credit is due," Tigers coach Jay Schwarzrock said. "Grayslake North seems to have 11 skilled players out there that can move the ball around. They're a fast and organized team. When they know where to attack, it's hard for teams that are slower to keep up. We needed to slow things down and grind things out."