Oladunmoye leads Grayslake North's epic effort
In its 10th week of football, Grayslake North got a Herculean effort by its own No. 10.
Running back Dami Oladunmoye, who wears jersey No. 10, ran wild on Chicago Hubbard on Saturday afternoon, paving the way to a 47-8 first-round Class 6A victory and giving Grayslake North its first-ever Week 11 in school history.
The Knights, who went up 40-0 with 8:04 left in the third quarter and enacted a running clock, have been to the playoffs four times in the 11-year history of the school. But they had never before been able to advance out of the first round.
Being a part of history certainly wasn't lost on this current crop.
"We came out here and knew that we needed to do something that had never been done here," said Oladunmoye, who rolled up 192 yards on 24 carries and scored a personal-record 5 touchdowns. "We've never won a playoff game before. We came out here with a chip on our shoulders.
"This means that there are a lot more playoff games for us to win. We can't just win one playoff game and say we're done. We've got to keep going."
Sixth-seeded Grayslake North, which moves to 7-3, will travel to Riverside-Brookfield for the second round next weekend. No. 3 Riverside-Brookfield is 9-1.
No. 11 Hubbard, meanwhile, ends its season at 6-4.
"It's been a long time (waiting for the first playoff win), there's no doubt about that," said an emotional Grayslake North coach Steve Wood, the only head coach in the program's history. "It's just really emotional. These kids have worked so hard. Ten years ago, you think of those kids and how hard they worked and how they had nothing to show for it.
"To see these kids come out and finally get over that hump. It's just really special."
Oladunmoye certainly was special. He scored 3 touchdowns in the first quarter alone. He was a workhorse and kept the chains consistently moving for Grayslake North. He also had a couple of spectacular long runs, highlighted by a 42-yard touchdown on his final carry in the third quarter.
"My offensive line, they kept giving me lanes to run. It was nice," Oladunmoye said of starting offensive linemen Jack Rutkowski, Sean Pearce, Robert Thomsen, Jordan Speer, Payton Campbell, John Staudt and Jared Sims. "I just try to get my job done."
Oladunmoye's job took on a lot more responsibility when starting quarterback Merrick Gentile went down with a season-ending injury in Grayslake North's intrasquad scrimmage back in August. Just a junior, Oladunmoye rose to the occasion. He has rushed for 26 touchdowns and nearly 1,800 yards, most in Lake County, this season.
"He's special," Wood said of Oladunmoye. "He played half the season with a broken hand, and had a club on his left hand. He did all this with one hand pretty much.
"The other special thing about Dami is that everyone in the stadium knows who's going to get the ball. We lose Merrick, our quarterback, and that's really hurt our passing game. So everyone knows Dami is going to get the ball. To me, that's really special that he's still been able to do what he's done."
Grayslake North got its other scores on a safety by Justin Bock and an 11-yard touchdown run by back-up running back Griffin Gawenda (13 carries, 58 yards).
Hubbard, which was limited to just 7 first downs and 188 total yards of offense, finally got on the scoreboard with 8:03 remaining in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Levon Cathothers hit Tyrell Williams with a 33-yard touchdown pass.
"We don't have a lot of players," Hubbard coach Elton Harris said. "Most of our guys are going both ways. We're not a big school, we're not a big team. We're athletic, but all those big guys that (Grayslake North) has, we couldn't handle them. They were just too big for us.
"They were like college guys compared to us. They really blocked well (for Oladunmoye)."