Valdivia keys Grayslake Central
Before every game, Joey Valdivia keeps the menu simple.
"I usually just eat a sandwich," the Grayslake Central fullback said.
Never before has he had problems with a queasy stomach. But it was twisting in knots before the Rams kicked off against crosstown rival Grayslake North on Friday night.
And it wasn't nerves.
"I eat at 4:30, so I don't know what the problem was," Valdivia said. "But in the first half, my stomach hurt really bad. I felt really, really sick."
As it turned out, it was the visiting Knights who wanted to reach for the barf bucket every time Valdivia got his hands on the ball. And more so when he kept breaking tackle after tackle.
Valdivia had the biggest game of his life in the biggest game of the season thus far for the Rams.
He rolled up a stunning 381 yards on 34 carries for an average of 11.2 yards per carry. He also scored a whopping 6 touchdowns to lead Grayslake Central to a 44-34 Fox Valley Fox Division win that had plenty of special meaning.
Not only do the Rams keep their edge in the crosstown series (they're now up 5-1), they also put themselves in the driver's seat for their first league title since 1970 while nudging ever closer to a home game in the first round of the playoffs.
Grayslake Central, which will be making its second straight playoff appearance, improves to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the Fox. Grayslake North, meanwhile, drops to 4-4 and 3-2 and will be fighting for its playoff life next week in trying to get a fifth win and earn enough points.
"This is a great win for us," Grayslake Central coach Nick Goshe said. "For our school and our community, it's been awhile since we've had a season like this and a conference championship. This community should be very proud of their kids."
One kid in particular has the locals beaming with pride.
Valdivia's performance was not only a personal best, but also a school record.
And much of it was achieved in spectacular fashion.
Valdivia personified determination. So many times, he simply refused to be taken down.
Midway through the second quarter, Valdivia took a handoff and went left. The Grayslake North defense snuffed him out and had him stopped. Or so it thought.
Valdivia spun away and headed right, but the Knights were in full pursuit, driving him backwards. Suddenly, he fumbled the ball.
Somehow, Valdivia regained the ball and his grip, but was still in trouble, seemingly destined for at least a five-yard loss.
But again, Valdivia gave the Knights the slip.
He wound up popping up the right sideline for a head-shaking 67-yard touchdown.
Later, in the fourth quarter, Valdivia broke multiple tackles, including one in which multiple defenders all but had him wrapped up from head to toe, to score a 65-yard touchdown run.
"The reason we got that one touchdown (after the cutback and the fumble) is that we tricked them. They thought after I fumbled it, I'd be down," said Valdivia, who now has 22 touchdowns on the season. "I just ran as hard as I could.
"If I know someone is about to tackle me, I'll just run that much harder. And I don't every give up (on a play)."
The Knights never gave up either.
They kept up with Valdivia and the rest of the Rams, score for score, until the last four minutes of the game. Andrew Soulis, who scored 3 touchdowns on the night, ran in a 1-yard touchdown with 4:29 left to cut the North deficit to 30-27.
But then Valdivia scored back-to-back touchdowns in a three-minute span to put the game away.
"We started off with some leads (6-0, 13-6 and 23-20), but it's a 48 minute game," said Grayslake North quarterback AJ Fish, who completed 23-of-31 passes for 212 yards, including a 76-yard touchdown pass to Josh Cokefair (6 receptions, 128 yards). "We fell down a little and we kept coming back, but it doesn't really matter because we still lost the game."
The Knights now find themselves in the same predicament as last year.
They must win next week against Woodstock North to get the minimum five wins needed in order to have a chance to qualify on playoff points. Last year, Grayslake North had 5 wins, but not enough points to make the cut and sat home during the playoffs.
The Knights have never made the playoffs in the five-year history of the school and could have mostly one guy Valdivia to thank for another miss.
"When you're going up against a team that has one kid who everyone knows is going to get the ball and we have 11 guys trying to tackle him and sometimes it looked like we didn't even know where he was, you're not going to win those games," Grayslake North coach Steve Wood said.