Quartet of rivalry games highlight Friday's schedule

Granted, the granddaddy of football rivalries in these parts took place last week when Libertyville visited Stevenson in a mega North Suburban Conference Lake Division clash.

But Friday, there happen to be four local rivalry games on tap that are also intriguing in their own right.

Antioch is at Lakes, its sister school. Lakes is the school that was created five years ago when Antioch's growing enrollment necessitated a split.

Same situation in Grayslake, where a prideful cross-town rivalry will take center stage. Grayslake North will face the school it branched off from four years ago, Grayslake Central.

Then there's Wauconda at North Chicago, which isn't quite a rivalry yet, but could very well develop into one. First-year North Chicago coach Glen Kozlowski was the head coach at Wauconda last year and spent eight years trying to build the Bulldogs into a winner. Figure on plenty of emotion in this game as Kozlowski's old players try to outshine his new ones.

And last, but certainly not least, is the game of the night, the North Suburban Prairie Division clash between Grant and Vernon Hills (which has been moved from Vernon Hills to Carmel because of a flooded field at Vernon Hills).

Grant and Vernon Hills aren't longtime rivals, nor are they natural geographic rivals, but these two programs have developed a healthy and extremely competitive rivalry in recent years.

"This game has become a rivalry because every year, it seems like the Prairie Division comes down to us or Grant," said Vernon Hills coach Tony Monken. "Either we're fighting each other for it, or another team that's in the mix needs to beat us both to win it. This is the Prairie Division's version of Libertyville-Stevenson."

Since the North Suburban split into the Lake Division and the Prairie Division nine years ago, Grant and Vernon Hills have either won the division or placed second seven times.

Besides the fact that Grant and Vernon Hills are almost always fighting to say atop of the heap, their rivalry has been enhanced by the thrilling games they play against each other.

The last four games between the two Prairie Division heavyweights have been decided by 9 points. Combined.

Last year, Vernon Hills edged Grant 7-6 during the regular season but Grant exacted revenge in the playoffs the very next week by getting a 32-31 victory in double overtime.

"Our games against Vernon Hills have been crazy lately," Grant coach Kurt Rous said. "You know, our kids don't really know any of the Vernon Hills kids socially. But the programs are very similar. We run similar offenses and defenses, even special teams. The coaches all like and respect each other. I think our kids see a lot of themselves in the kids at Vernon Hills and I think that's why the games are always so competitive."

Taking sides: Poor Kirsten Rous.

Talk about feeling stuck in the middle.

Rous is married to Grant coach Kurt Rous. They tied the knot this past May.

Kirsten also happens to be the trainer for the football team at Vernon Hills, which is Grant's biggest rival in the North Suburban Prairie Division.

Grant and Vernon Hills will play Friday for a possible share of the division title at stake.

"Yeah, (Rous) wanted to beat us so bad that he went out and married one of our trainers," Vernon Hills coach Tony Monken laughed.

Kurt Rous says he won't ask his wife who she'll root for at the game. And he says he won't hold her game attire against her.

"She'll have to be wearing that Vernon Hills stuff," Rous laughed. "But I try not to ask her to choose sides."

Looking up: What a difference a year, some heavy lifting, and a few personnel moves has made at Grayslake North.

Last season, the Knights could claim just one win in the entire program. The freshman team went 1-7-1. Meanwhile, the varsity and sophomore teams each posted winless 0-9 records.

But this year, North already has 13 wins on the board, five by both the freshman and sophomore teams and 3 by the varsity, the most ever by the varsity in the four-year history in the school.

If the Knights can win out, they could possible sneak into the playoffs with five wins. It would be North's first-ever playoff berth.

So what accounts for the rather sudden transformation?

"Our players have told us that this was the best off-season we've ever had in the weight room and overall," Grayslake North coach Steve Wood said. "Plus, we moved some of our coaches around. We took one of our varsity coaches, Joe Volante, and made him our head freshman coach and that's helped a lot to get the freshmen on the right track from the start. We've moved some other coaches to different positions and that also seems to be helping."

Wood acknowledges that his Knights are a long way from a playoff berth, but the fact that it's simply a possibility has changed the entire vibe surrounding the program.

"Just the tempo of practice, the energy you see from the players and coaches, it's been amazing," Wood said. "It's been a lot of fun to be a part of this as we continue to improve and grow as a program."

Pink pigskins: Although it isn't meant to be a fashion statement, Grayslake Central won't be able to help but look fashionable Friday.

The Rams will be sporting bright pink socks. Yes, pink, which should make them look very preppy in conjunction with their green jersey.

The socks are being worn in support of "Think Pink Week," a national initiative to raise awareness of Breast Cancer Research.

"We wore pink socks last year, I'm pretty sure Carmel wore them last week, it's a great thing to do to support a great cause," Grayslake Central coach Nick Goshe said. "Our volleyball team got us involved and we want to support our girls and all women."

A portion of the proceeds from Friday's crosstown rivalry game against Grayslake North, which is expected to draw a huge crowd, will be given to the school's "Think Pink" fund.

"We're also posting signs in our locker room about it to remind the guys what they'll be playing for," Goshe said. "We've also talked a lot as a team about how cancer has affected us personally. We've had a lot of guys open up and share some pretty emotional situations in their lives."

Friendly rivalry: The players at Wauconda aren't the only ones who want to get the best of their old coach Friday at North Chicago.

So does Wauconda's new head coach, Dave Mills.

Glen Kozlowski, who was the head coach at Wauconda for eight years until leaving last winter to take over at North Chicago, convinced Mills to move across the country and be one of his assistants when he first got the Wauconda job. The two have been close friends ever since playing football together at Brigham Young in the 1980s.

"We've got to beat them because if they beat us, you know Glen, I'll have to hear about it for an entire year," Mills laughed. "If we win, I keep him quiet and my life is a whole lot easier."

Mills says that he and Kozlowski are always giving each other a hard time like that.

"But this is the first time we're actually competing opposite each other," Mills said. "I was a tight end at BYU and he was a receiver so we might have competed about who got the most yards or the most catches or the most touchdowns _ and I think I had more yards and he had more touchdowns. But we were always on the same team.

"This will be a little different, being on different teams."