Toughness suits Grayslake Central

Nick Goshe grinned almost like a father proudly watching his two sons tussle.

At some point, boys - especially those who play football - have to show toughness and pride, even against those whom they respect, and maybe a little physical interaction isn't such a bad thing.

"There's been some fights," said Goshe, Grayslake Central's coach. "Chippy practices, guys competing for positions - stuff that we haven't seen here until this year, because the time's in now. They've lifted the weights. They've done the stuff in the off-season. They want their spot. And it's good."

No one is predicting greatness this season for a team that's won only once in two years, but its third-year coach can say with conviction that the Rams have come a long way.

Goshe once lamented the lack of physical strength in his program, but he's seen drastic improvement.

"The junior class has lifted for three years," said Goshe, whose Rams open with a 7:15 p.m. kickoff at Johnsburg tonight. "That's another world from where we were. There are some juniors out here that are stronger than some juniors from other schools. I don't think I could have said that in years past."

Grayslake Central has some senior strength, too, with two-way lineman Angelo Gargano (6-1, 230) back after earning all-conference honors last year. A star baseball slugger, as well, Gargano is expected to be one of the Rams' top leaders.

"He's a 30-plus ACT kid," Goshe said. "With brains like that, opportunities are everywhere."

Mike Gentile will start at quarterback after taking plenty of snaps last year. The Rams had packages for Gentile where he would spell Kevin O'Rourke at the position. Another good athlete, Gentile also saw action at receiver.

"Michael's got a lot of reps at the varsity level at quarterback, so we're confident with him," Goshe said.

With prolific pass-catcher Justin Squillo (63 catches in 2008) having graduated along with O'Rourke, David Tajnai is the Rams' most experienced wideout.

Wide receiver Michael Katona returns after getting injured on last year's season-opening kickoff and missing the year.

"He's had a great summer," Goshe said.

Gentile has three good running backs to give the ball to in junior Vinnie Culhane, junior Will Reed and sophomore Joey Valdivia.

Goshe likes his teams to pass the ball as much as they run it.

"We always try to be balanced - 50/50, to me, is ideal," he said. "To keep (defenses) off balance, we need to be balanced. That's my philosophy.

"We obtained that last year, and we were pretty good offensively. We had some games where we really lit up the scoreboard, but (the opposition) lit it up more."

So guess what was the Rams' big emphasis during the off-season?

Defense.

The Rams allowed an FVC Fox-worst 363 points (40 per game) in 2008.

"A lot of research, a lot of talking to other places trying to find a fit for our kids," Goshe said.

The defense returns Gargano as well as linebackers James Sinclair, Nick Mandich and Mick Daly.

Overall, Goshe believes his team has the talent to compete. Now it's just a matter of the Rams winning and getting used to it.

Call it a mentality shift.

"The biggest way to get it to shift is to win," said Goshe, whose team has a favorable matchup against first-year Woodstock North in Week 2. "You got to win early. So these first couple of games for this program, needless to say, are pretty important."