Grayslake Central celebrates, at last
Grayslake North wore its flashy all Vegas gold uniforms with black numerals and trim, and Glenn Mizowek provided more flash with his acrobatic somersault into the end zone.
But at game's end, Grayslake Central had its student fans, many dressed in all white, standing by the visitors' elevated fence, high-fiving and jumping up and down, as ecstatic as their football players standing below them.
Grayslake Central players and schoolmates kept flashing ear-to-ear smiles, and it was understandable.
Led by running back Cassidy Melton's 211 rushing yards and quarterback Kevin O'Rourke's 2 scores and 1 touchdown pass, Grayslake Central snapped its 18-game losing streak with a 35-21 win Friday night in front of a near-capacity crowd at Grayslake North.
Grayslake Central (1-7, 1-3 Fox Valley Fox Division) hadn't won since it beat then-first-year Grayslake North 33-10 in Week 7 of the 2006 season.
"This is crazy," a euphoric O'Rourke said. "I never expected it to be like this. It's a perfect way to do it - against our rival. This is awesome."
The first half was awesome itself. The teams kept trading touchdowns until Grayslake North (0-8, 0-4) took a one-TD lead late in the half on Mizowek's school-record 95-yard dash to the end zone. With no defender near him, he celebrated by somersaulting across the goal line, drawing an unsportsmanlike-like conduct penalty.
"I know he was excited. I was excited too," Knights coach Steve Wood said. "But you just can't make those mistakes."
The 15-yard penalty was added to the ensuing kickoff. And following a kick out of bounds and 13-yard return by Justin Squillo, the Rams had the ball at the North 42. Six plays later, O'Rourke threw a 19-yard TD pass to David Tajnai. O'Rourke then caught the conversion pass from Mike Gentile, and the score was tied 21-21 at halftime.
Mizowek had 169 rushing yards at halftime, but he and his teammates couldn't get anything going offensively the rest of the night. The junior finished with 174 yards on 15 carries.
O'Rourke snapped the tie with 9:20 left in the fourth quarter on an 18-yard run on fourth-and-2.
"Coach trusted my legs," said O'Rourke, who's more of a thrower than a runner. "It was a boot out pass and basically it was either you pass the ball or you run it. I had an opening and I ran it. We needed the first down."
On North's next series, Central's Angelo Gargano intercepted a screen pass and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown.
"They run a good screen," Gargano said. "The coaches had us prepared for it."
On North's next possession, Gargano picked off another pass, this one while on the ground.
"Kendall Smith tipped it and it fell into my stomach," Gargano said. "That pick should go to him."
Melton (51 yards) and O'Rourke (1 yard) scored on first-quarter runs for Central. In addition to Mizowek's long score, North got short TD runs from Mike Morales and QB Sean Brennan in the first half.
"We just didn't play well," said Wood, whose Knights haven't won since beating the Rams in Week 7 of last year. "We said all along to everybody we talked to that it's going to come down to who makes the bigger mistakes."