Football: Grayslake Central puts the emphasis on improvement

Mikey Andrews knows what it's like to win football games - and titles.

"Eighth-grade year, I had a great team," Andrews said. "Little League ball, we won the championship."

Now a Grayslake Central senior, Andrews begins his third varsity season.

He has yet to experience victory.

Several of his Grayslake Colts teammates from four years ago, including star Dami Oladunmoye, ended up going to Grayslake North. While those players have won, Andrews and his Grayslake Central teammates have lost. A lot. The Rams are coming off back-to-back 0-9 campaigns and take a 19-game losing streak into their 2016 season opener against visiting Vernon Hills.

Since starting the 2013 season with a 3-0 record, Grayslake Central has lost 24 of 25 games.

"It's been tough, but it's about persistence," Andrews said. "You got to work through (the losing). You just buckle up your straps and you keep going."

The good news for the Rams is that they boast Andrews. When camp opened this month, the running back/middle linebacker was the team's only appointed captain. He qualified for the state track meet last spring by winning the discus in the Class 3A Lake Zurich sectional.

"Mikey is going to be a great player," said Jason Schaal, who begins his third season as Grayslake Central's head coach. "He's a 4.2-4.3-GPA guy and is just a high-character kid."

Andrews figures to be the focal point of the offense. Last year, due to the chemistry that quarterback Luke Shepherd (1,660 passing yards) and wide receiver Noah Comerford (30 receptions, 6 touchdowns) developed on the field, Andrews' touches were limited. He ended up rushing for 448 yards, averaging 4 per carry.

Shepherd (St. Cloud) and Comerford (Robert Morris) are now playing college football.

"We tried to use the passing game with Luke and Noah to set up (the run)," Schaal said. "We struggled a little bit up front last year with our offensive line to get the blocks. But Mikey had a better junior year than he did his sophomore year, so I'm hoping he's going to have a better senior year than junior year."

Andrews will be one of the few Rams who plays on both sides of the football. With Grayslake Central leaving the Fox Valley Conference to join the new Northern Lake County Conference, the Rams will not field a sophomore team. They'll play freshman and varsity games on Fridays and JV contests on Saturdays.

"It allows us to have sophomores, juniors and seniors on varsity," Schaal said. "Now, as opposed to having 35 or less (players) than that on our varsity team, we're actually at about 56-57. All of our sophomores are going to be battling for starting spots on the varsity. Some of them are doing really well. We're happy with their effort."

Schaal sees positives if he and his staff can maintain a two-platoon system.

"It's going to allow us to be more rested, and it's going to limit our hits," Schaal said. "Some of the games last year we were overmatched. I felt some other games were close and we got tired late in the game. This should allow us to not be as tired. Our conditioning should be good. Hopefully we'll see some improvements."

Junior Sam Lennartz (6-0, 160) could be the starter at quarterback. The brother of former Rams QB Alex (St. Cloud), Lennartz is in a battle with sophomore Ben Vogeler (5-10, 140).

The offensive line features big Zack Cashmore (6-5, 220), who's another three-year varsity player, and fellow senior Anthony Magno (5-8, 220). Ethan Tran (5-10, 235) was up as a sophomore last year and played well.

"Our senior class is not big, so we're going to get a lot of play from sophomores and juniors," Schaal said. "We got to step on the field and do the best we can."

The defense will be inexperienced. Besides Andrews, the group includes sophomore Austin Wagner (5-11, 190), junior Sam Chandler (5-11, 230) and junior Julian Gomez (5-10, 286).

"We're going to be pretty young on the defensive side of the ball," Schaal said. "When you have sophomores and juniors, it allows us to do this. They're going to get a great experience."

Sophomore Andrew Dziura (5-10, 174), a hard-hitting linebacker, is among the young players who has impressed Andrews.

"I got some confidence in them," Andrews said. "They deserve to be out there because they've been working hard."