Grayslake North dresses for success against Central
Dami Oladunmoye placed his black No. 10 jersey, which was still stretched over his shoulder pads, under a table on Grayslake North's sideline as the second half began, and there they stayed.
Call it a different kind of victory formation.
After helping the host Knights build a 34-point lead in the first half against Grayslake Central on Friday night, Oladunmoye enjoyed the rest of the rivalry game wearing a gray hoodie and untied football cleats.
Grayslake North isn't officially celebrating just yet, but it's all but a foregone conclusion that the Knights are playoff-bound again after their 54-21 win in Fox Valley Conference Fox Division action.
"They want to keep me healthy for next week," Oladunmoye said of his coaches giving him the second half off.
Grayslake North (5-3, 4-1), which figures to have enough playoff points even if it loses its regular-season finale, hosts Woodstock North in Week 9 and will clinch a postseason berth with a win. That will make it four-straight playoff appearances for the Knights. Mind you, they lost star quarterback Merrick Gentile before the season with an ACL tear.
"I think it just says that we're a really good, well-rounded team," said quarterback Jake Wright, who was 10-of-11 passing for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 58-yard toss on a screen to Joe Geary to open the scoring. "And Dami really stepped up as a running back and took the weight off me a lot."
Oladunmoye rushed 17 times for 185 yards and 4 touchdowns. The junior scored on runs of 1, 5, 34 and 65 yards.
"That man is not human," a Knight said after Oladunmoye's fourth score - and 18th TD of the season - made it 34-7 late in the second quarter.
"The kid can run, there's no question about it," Grayslake Central coach Jason Schaal said.
Grayslake North actually lost two starting offensive linemen - one to an ejection on an Oladunmoye TD that was called back in the first quarter and one to a minor injury - but the Knights never missed a beat.
"All the O-line and even the backups were ready to grind," Oladunmoye said.
"Everyone that rotates in is ready to play," Wright said of the Knights' offensive linemen. "They all go through the same practice so they're all pretty good."
Trailing 27-0 midway through the second quarter, Grayslake Central (0-8, 0-5) finally scored on quarterback Luke Shepherd's 22-yard scramble on fourth-and-18.
Shepherd, who started the game at fullback but moved to QB on the Rams' third play, threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Noah Comerford (7 catches, 147 yards) in the third quarter. Grayslake Central's final score came on a 5-yard TD pass from Billy Drevline to Benjamin Schrimpf in the fourth quarter.
"We felt we moved the ball," Schaal said. "First drive of the third quarter we get down inside the red zone (first-and-10 from the 11) and were unable to get points on the board, but the kids never gave up."
Wright, whose 25-yard TD run had Grayslake North up 41-7 at halftime, threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Aikin in the third quarter. Griffin Gawenda's 2-yard run concluded the Knights' scoring.
"(Making the playoffs again) just shows how far the program has come," said Steve Wood, who's been the Knights' head coach for all 10 of their seasons. "It's not just A.J.'s (A.J. Fish) team when he was here, or it's not just the next man up. It's a program. As a coach, that's what I'm proud of."