Wauconda stays tied atop Northern Lake County with rout of Grayslake Central

WAUCONDA – Wauconda seemed content to have Logan Olsen hand off to Jackson Rudolph, Cole Korycanek and Jacob Hawley and let them ram their way into and through Grayslake Central’s defense.

The Bulldogs’ two touchdown drives in the first quarter were a 21-run salute of power football Friday night. But they decided not to intentionally ground Olsen in a 44-6 Northern Lake County Conference victory at William C. Eiserman Stadium in Grayslake.

The next three drives of the half ended with touchdown passes from Olsen for a 37-0 lead. The senior finished 12-for-15 passing for 206 yards as Wauconda (5-1, 4-0) became playoff eligible for a fourth consecutive season for the first time in school history and stayed in a tie for the NLCC lead with Antioch (5-1, 4-0) going into their meeting next Friday.

“I did,” Olsen said with a surprised smile of his passing yardage. “We always come in running but that loosens things up. I kind of do what Mitzie (offensive coordinator Bill Mitz) tells me.”

Olsen threw touchdowns of 47 yards on a screen and 53 on a quick slant to sophomore tight end Luke Sickmeir (4 catches, 113 yards) and had a 2-yard touchdown pass to Cole Korycanek. Nick Ori also caught three passes for 45 yards.

“That’s kind of a lot for us and we moved it around,” Wauconda coach Chris Prostka said after Olsen had 198 yards passing at halftime. “We took advantage of what they were trying to do.”

The Bulldogs hardly abandoned the run as Hawley (9 carries, 84 yards), Rudolph (14 carries, 62 yards) and Korycanek (11 carries, 52 yards) led the way to 259 of its 465 total yards. They got touchdown runs of 3 yards by Korycanek, 1 yard by Rudolph and 2 yards by Olsen.

Five of Wauconda’s scoring drives were between 69 and 81 yards behind Porter Stanton, Liam Carney, Martin Corona, Anthony Medrano and Eric Alvarado. Olsen also threw a pair of 2-point passes, Rocco Garcia kicked three extra points and Claire Gallagher got a huge cheer when she kicked her first extra point for a 44-0 lead.

“It’s a little tiring but so much fun,” Stanton said of the long scoring drives. “We felt confident coming out here with our passing and running game tonight. We’re more heavy on the run but we knew we could do both of them.”

Grayslake Central (3-3, 2-2) lost senior quarterback Brady Carlson to a torn right ACL two weeks ago against North Chicago. Junior quarterback Nick Norberg (8-for-18, 119 yards) threw a 16-yard touchdown to a leaping Isaiah Allen on the game’s final play and Romeo Reyes rushed for 62 yards on 13 carries.

“I think we have an opportunity to regroup here,” Central coach Brent Pearlman said. “The last couple of weeks have been tough but Nick has stepped in and done a great job. He’s a very tough kid.

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