Grayslake North ends scoring drought, dumps Dundee-Crown
Grayslake North was sick of its current scoring slump.
The Knights were so sick of it, in fact, that they made sure to end the drought by returning the opening kickoff 78-yards for a quick 7-0 lead. Grayslake North poured on 28 more points in the first half and beat Dundee-Crown 41-18 Thursday night in a Fox Valley Conference crossover in Carpentersville.
Ross Sauer's game-opening kickoff return and the Knights' halftime and total points were all school records after Grayslake North scored a combined 3 points in losses to Woodstock and McHenry in the past 2 weeks.
"We had a game plan coming out and in the first half we executed it perfectly," Grayslake North coach Steve Wood said. "We got back on track."
Dundee-Crown (1-3) fumbled the ball 8 times, losing 4 of them including a drop on the Chargers' opening drive. Taylor Mannuel's recovery led to the first of two straight touchdowns from Mike Fraley (16 carries, 98 yards).
Fraley extended Grayslake North's lead to 14-0 on an 8-yard scramble with 7:43 left in the first half and then made it 21-0 with a 3-yard plow with 2:20 to play in the first half.
Glenn Mizowek (12 carries, 94 yards) put the Knights (2-2) ahead 28-0 after a 5-yard scoring run with 4:24 left in the first half. The Knights' ground game battered the Chargers for 105 yards on 14 carries in the first quarter and tacked on another 100 yards on 16 carries in the second quarter.
"In football, if you run a play and it works, you keep running it and we didn't stop them," Chargers' coach Mike Davis said.
Andrew Soulis added a 14-yard touchdown run and quarterback Sean Brennan connected with Matt Robinson on a 71-yard bomb to complete the Grayslake North scoring.
Dundee-Crown did its damage through the air, especially in the second half.
Quarterback Nick Torres completed 19 of 31 passes for 230 yards in the second half. Torres found Geoff Clifford (9 catches, 82 yards) on a 2-yard pass in the game's final minute to bring the Chargers within 41-18. The Chargers did drop a pair of passes in the end zone and Torres and running back Danny Sharp each had a touchdown run called back due to penalties.
"It came down to drops and fumbles," Torres said. "We had two touchdowns come back. We had a bunch of good drives, we just couldn't finish it."
Sharp scored on a 70-yard touchdown run in the first half and on a 6-yard score in the third quarter.