CRYSTAL LAKE – Prairie Ridge’s offensive line was on a mission Friday night against Grayslake North.
The Wolves, fighting for a potential playoff spot, relied on smashmouth football to grind down the defense. It didn’t matter who had the ball behind a dominating effort from Prairie Ridge’s offensive linemen.
Three different Wolves rushed for more than 140 yards as they amassed 575 rushing yards en route to a 56-27 Fox Valley Conference crossover win against Grayslake North.
More importantly, the win keeps the Wolves’ playoff hopes alive. A victory next week against McHenry will make Prairie Ridge playoff eligible with five wins.
Prairie Ridge junior quarterback Brett Covalt gashed Grayslake North’s defense for 258 rushing yards on 24 carries with four touchdowns.
“I trusted my linemen,” Covalt said. “I knew they were going to get the blocks down. We’ve been practicing all week. I knew it’d be open.”
The Wolves (4-4) have scored 98 total points in their past two games against Dundee-Crown and Grayslake North, surpassing their combined points in their first six games of the season (77 points).
“I think a big part of it is confidence, the guys finally have confidence in themselves,” Wolves coach Chris Schremp said. “Part of it, too, is the continuity. It takes a lot of reps to get this offense going right, but when you get it right you can see what happens.”
The Knights (6-2) were powerless in their attempts to slow down the Wolves’ ground game, surrendering an average of 9.7 yards per carry, including 18 runs of at least 10 yards.
“The difference has been we’ve been getting off the ball and we’ve been on the other side of the line of scrimmage,” said Wolves senior lineman Shane Evans, who committed to play at Northern Illinois this week. “The first couple weeks we were kind of playing on the line of scrimmage, now we’re moving and playing fast.”
While Prairie Ridge relied on an effective run game, Knights coach Steve Wood wanted his offense to attack through the air. Knights quarterback Merrick Gentile completed 32 of 52 passes for 338 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, but the defense struggled to get the Wolves off the field. The Wolves didn’t punt and converted 26 first downs.
Two rushing touchdowns by Covalt and the first of three touchdowns from senior fullback Zack Greenberg (164 rushing yards) gave the Wolves a 19-6 lead in the first quarter. By halftime, Prairie Ridge led 36-20 after stuffing the Knights at the 1-yard line as time expired. The Knights trailed by at least 15 points the entire second half.