It was a competitive first half when host Grayslake Central met Grayslake North in their annual crosstown rival on the football gridiron Friday night.

The host Rams only led 14-6 at halftime, but they outscored the Knights 14-0 in the second half to post a 28-6 Northern Lake County Conference victory to win back the coveted Crosstown Classic trophy.

The visiting Knights (1-5, 1-3) struck first when they marched 90 yards on 12 plays as senior Jacob Sweeney (95 yards on 21 rushes) scored on a 3-yard run 6:37 into the contest for a 6-0 lead. But that wound up being their only points of the contest despite compiling exactly 200 yards of offense on the ground alone.

The Rams’ opening drive was impressive, as they responded by going 62 yards in just 1:24 as senior J.T. Papin (111 yards on 12 carries) scored on an 8-yard TD run. Jimmy Brum’s extra point made the score 7-6.

Great field position at the Grayslake North 25-yard-line set up the Rams’ next score, as a 22-yard run by Papin was followed by a 3-yard TD run by Papin for a 14-6 lead with 3:12 left in the second quarter. Central junior Ken-Ye Pendleton (115 yards on 8 attempts) had 85 yards on 5 carries in the first half, including a 57-yard run early in the second quarter.

Papin played his first game of the season last week due to injury, and he scored his third TD of the game on a 1-yard run for a 21-6 lead early in the third quarter. Papin was also 2-for-2 passing for 67 yards while teammate Nick Norberg was 2-for-4 for 32 yards.

“Me and the boys work hard every day, and I like to think of it as backyard football just having fun out there,” said Papin. “I couldn’t do it without my offensive line, and I would have zero touchdowns without them.”

Papin’s 23-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter made the score 28-6 as Grayslake Central improved to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the NLCC. Central’s Karl McDonald caught a 44-yard pass from Papin and a 26-yard pass from Norberg.

“He (Papin) didn’t play quarterback until this week, and I thought he did a great job of adjusting out there,” said Central coach Brent Pearlman. “He (Pendleton) is a junior, he’s just scratching the surface, and this guy is going to get better and better as he progresses.”

Many of Papin’s rushing yards came when he was the quarterback in the shotgun formation. Grayslake North’s Maurice Jorden had 83 yards on 17 rushes while sophomore teammate Jaylen Newkirk was 4-for-14 for 37 yards before getting injured late in the game.

“There were a few drives were we kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” said North coach Brian Johnson. “You run the ball hard and you’re going to be successful. He (Papin) has got some good size, and he’s tough to bring down.”