Stone ‘a workhorse’ in Antioch victory against Grayslake Central

Antioch has a lot of weapons, but you do not want to let your guard down when it comes to senior running back Gavin Stone.

Host Grayslake Central contained Stone for a little while, but Stone scored four touchdowns as the Sequoits rolled to a lopsided 76-21 Northern Lake County Conference victory.

“We have a lot of weapons, Gavin Stone is a workhorse, and there are not many kids you get to coach in your career who have the work ethic year-round as him,” said Antioch coach Brian Glashagel, whose program is undefeated against Grayslake Central. “Logan Lennon is a great all-around athlete, he can run the ball, he plays defense for us, and he's a playmaker who always finds a way to find the ball.”

Lennon caught a 60-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ethan Patel on Antioch's first play from scrimmage before he scored on a 68-yard TD run for a quick 14-0 lead.

Grayslake Central (2-2,1-1) kept the game close early on as Ray Ray Wright (121 yards on nine carries) scored on a 95-yard TD run. The high-scoring first half saw Stone (200 yards on 13 rushes) score on a 48-yard TD run before the Rams answered with a 68-yard TD pass from Aliff Grayson to Andy Monzanga.

“We kept it close, but Antioch is a tough team, and those kids looked really good,” said Grayslake Central coach Brent Pitt. “They're a good football team, Antioch has built a good program, and we'll be there.”

Patel hit Miles Marabella with an 11-yard TD pass before Grayson hit Marabella with a five-yard TD pass to cut the lead to 35-21. But the Sequoits dominated the rest of the contest as touchdown runs of 59 yards by Lennon and five yards by Stone made the score 49-21 at halftime.

Kicker Jack Hulting caught a 19-yard TD pass to open the second-half scoring. Stone added a 77-yard TD run, and there was a running clock from 5:54 left in the third quarter on. Antioch's Austin Schine added two late touchdowns to account for the final score.

“I really thought I wasn't going to get the ball as much, but when I did get the ball I took the opportunities to make the best of everything I got,” said Stone, whose team is 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the NLCC. “We wanted to end the game, we just kept pounding the rock, and we just wanted to get out of here so we could get the running clock.”

Besides Wright, Grayslake Central also has another sprinter in running back Ken-Ye Pendleton. But the Antioch defense bottled up Pendleton for only 38 yards on 11 carries in the contest. Lennon wound up with 144 yards rushing on only four carries.