GRAYSLAKE – The Grayslake North football team has a reputation of being very good offensively, but it was great defensive play Friday that led the Knights to do something they hadn’t done in four seasons – shut out their opponent. The Knights rolled to a 42-0 homecoming victory at home against Woodstock.
Running Back Titus Booker has had a monster season for the Knights (4-3,3-1), and it was clear from the beginning that the Blue Streaks goal was to not let the University of Indiana recruit beat them. Woodstock did a nice job initially of shutting Booker down, but that just meant someone else would have to step up. That person would be junior quarterback Merrick Gentile. On the initial drive of the game, Gentile had runs of 34 and 23 yards before Booker finished the drive with a one-yard touchdown run.
“It was clear from the beginning that Woodstock’s goal was to shut down Titus and I knew I would need to step up,” Gentile said. “I do have to give the offensive line a lot of credit. They opened up a lot of holes for me to run through and gave me plenty of time to throw as well.”
With the Knights up 7-0, the turning point of the game occurred midway through the first quarter.
After two great stops for loss by the Woodstock defense, Grayslake North found themselves in a fourth-and-goal from the 18 yard line. Gentile connected with senior Eli Atwater for an 18-yard touchdown pass that put Grayslake North up 14-0.
Gentile and Atwater connected one more time in the first quarter, this time an 82-yard touchdown pass which put the Knights up 21-0 and virtually put the game out of reach.
“I wanted the ball and Merrick was able to place it perfectly in my hands,” Atwater said. “We had a great week of practice after a really tough loss last week. We were angry after our game with Crystal Lake Central and bonded as a team. There is no reason we can’t play like we did tonight every week.”
Woodstock was unable to completely stop Titus Booker after some success early in the game. The senior running back had a second quarter touchdown run of six yards, and finally was able to break one open in the third quarter with a 68-yard touchdown. Booker finished the night with 234 yards on 20 carries and had three touchdowns.
Knights coach Steve Wood was really happy with how his team played on both sides of the ball.
“Woodstock is a really tough team that has scored a lot of points in their last few games.” Wood said. “The kids played well and this was a great team effort. Our defensive line has played great most of the season and that continued tonight. We really didn’t give up any big plays tonight and that was key for us. This was a great win.”
Grayslake North will play at Grayslake Central at 7:15 p.m. Friday.