Grayslake Central subdues Senn
It hasn't been often that football in Grayslake has been played after Week 9 of the season, and for Rams senior Vinnie Culhane, it's even rarer than that.
Throughout his very successful career at Grayslake Central, and even through his years as a member of the
Grayslake youth football program, Culhane never got to experience a postseason game. That was until Friday night, as the No. 15 seed Rams took on No. 2 seed Senn in a Class 5A opening round state playoff game.
“My whole life that I have played football, I have never played in the playoffs before,” Culhane said. “As freshmen, we wanted to get to the playoffs and make history and we had the chance to do that tonight.”
The Rams made another piece of history Friday at Lane Stadium in Chicago with a resounding 31-6 win.
The win was just the second playoff victory in school history and propels the Rams into the second round, where they will face the winner of today's game between Marian Central and Julian.
“We just came in and played tonight like it was just another Friday night,” said Culhane, who rushed for 93 yards on 13 carries. “We came out into the playoffs and made a big bang. Now we need to get ready for next week and see what happens.”
Offensively, the Rams were good in spurts against a sometimes stingy Bulldogs defense but still managed to dent the end zone on four occasions. Culhane hit pay dirt just before halftime on a 5-yard run that lifted Grayslake Central to a 21-0 lead at the break. His 51-yard burst set up the short touchdown run, giving the Rams all the points they would need on the night.
“We felt like that with the conference that we play in we are prepared for the playoffs no matter who we play against,” said Grayslake Central coach Nick Goshe. “There is no one that we are going into the playoffs against that we are shaking in our boots. With teams in our league in (Class) 6A and 7A, it gets us ready.”
Defensively, the Rams were ready for the challenge that the previously unbeaten Bulldogs provided. Senn (9-1) managed just 20 total yards in offense in the first half and a meager 143 total for the game.
“Tonight was about pursuit to the ball pursuit, pursuit, pursuit,” said Rams junior linebacker Kristian Meehan. “We wanted tonight for all the seniors in this program and we really wanted to get them another game and get it done.”
Grayslake Central took control early on defense, forcing a pair of fumbles on two of the first three Bulldog drives.
The offense then got cranked up when Will Reed scored from 1 yard out with 1:02 to play in the first quarter.
Jahard Nelson and Joey Valdivia also added short touchdown runs for the Rams, and Jon Gurchak closed the scoring with a booming 45 yard field goal.