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player ready...Antioch wingbacks Jayden Marquis, Andy Bowles and Khalil Anderson flashed their athleticism in the season finale Friday.
Marquis had six catches and two touchdowns, Bowles had a 26-yard touchdown catch and Anderson added a 17-yard touchdown run in the Sequoits’ 49-0 Northern Lake County Conference win against visiting Lakes.
Antioch (6-0, 6-0) wrapped up its fifth straight NLCC title with the victory.
Marquis, a 6-foot-1 senior and Lake Forest College commit, scored the game’s first points on a 14-yard shovel pass from senior quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis. Marquis added a 10-yard TD catch in the second quarter.
This was Marquis’ first season playing wingback, one of the most versatile positions on the field.
“I definitely wanted to make a big impact in that position this year,” Marquis said. “I was a little nervous because it’s not usually a spot that I play. My team rallied around me. We all have each other’s backs.”
Coach Brian Glashagel said Marquis, Bowles and Anderson made plays all over the field this season, including from the slot. Bowles is a junior, and Anderson is a senior.
“Those three had awesome years for us,” Glashagel said. “They kind of do everything. They’re running backs, but they’re also receivers. All three of them played great on Friday.”
Kaliakmanis, a Minnesota recruit, threw three touchdown passes and also ran for a TD. His brother Dino, a senior also committed to Minnesota, ran for more than 100 yards and a touchdown.
While many conferences scheduled their top teams to face off in the final week of the season, the NLCC went with a “rivalry week.”
Finishing the long-delayed and abbreviated season against Community High School District 117 rival Lakes (0-6, 0-6) made for an emotional ending for the Sequoits, who will graduate 20 seniors.
“No matter what, when you play your rival, there’s always some extra excitement,” Glashagel said. “I think Week 6 felt more real in a season than any of the other games. It just felt like a good Friday night game in the fall. It was very completing.”
Lake Forest shares title: When the Illinois High School Association first announced a spring football season, Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli said the message to his players was clear.
“The first thing we told our kids was, ‘If that’s what we’re going to do, let’s have the best possible spring we can,’ and that’s what we did,” Spagnoli said. “All of the credit goes to the kids.”
The Scouts defeated Waukegan 49-8 on Friday to complete an undefeated season and share the North Suburban Conference championship with Warren.
It’s the first conference title for Lake Forest (6-0, 6-0) since 2011, when the Scouts earned a share of the NSC’s Lake Division.
Spagnoli said his seniors, led by quarterback and Middlebury commit Richie Hoskins, defensive lineman Frank Pinn and linebacker James Gildersleeve, carried the load on Friday. Spagnoli also credited senior offensive linemen Alex Miller, Asher Sklarov and Kevin Moriarty for controlling the line of scrimmage.
In a normal season, Lake Forest would have played Warren, a game not on the schedule this spring, and would have qualified for the playoffs, which the IHSA ruled out. Spagnoli said the team talked about that missed opportunity last week, and the conversation was a simple one.
“It wasn’t like this was new,” he said. “We didn’t get shocked at it. Everybody knew it was going to end when it was going to end, so there were no ifs or buts. … It wasn’t like somebody did something wrong to us. Nobody cheated us.
“I think the kids more than anything are just happy and proud they got the six games in because a lot of people thought COVID would shut it down after two weeks. I’m just happy and proud that our kids did what they needed to do to get it done right.”
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Tidbits: Vernon Hills topped Grayslake North 42-7 in a rare nonconference matchup. Their previously scheduled opponents, Niles North and Grayslake Central, had to cancel due to COVID-19 issues. The Cougars (5-0, 3-0) and Knights (4-2, 4-1) were able to reschedule and play each other instead. … Senior quarterback Kyndel McKnight tossed three touchdown passes for North Chicago (1-5, 1-5), including a 55-yarder, in a 28-19 win against Round Lake (1-5, 1-5). Senior Jamar Mays caught one of those touchdown passes and also had an interception.