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Beckman comes up big for Rams
Updated: September 10, 2011 12:38AM
Hampshire received a rather rude welcoming into the Fox Valley Conference from visiting Grayslake Central on Friday night.
Rams quarterback Ray Beckman threw for 207 yards and tossed four touchdowns to lead Grayslake to a 34-0 victory. Running back Joel Valdivia racked up 177 yards of offense (80 rushing and 97 receiving) and scored two touchdowns. The loss spoiled Hampshire’s debut in the FVC Fox Division after leaving the Big Northern Conference this season.
Other than a 47-yard run on the first play of the game by Valdivia that helped to set up their first touchdown, the Rams had a difficult time moving the ball on the ground like they had hoped. Grayslake Central rushed for just 123 yards in the game, but the fall-back plan worked just fine.
Beckman connected with six different receivers while completing 11-of-18 passes. His touchdown strikes of 7,64, 9 and 27 yards all came in the first half.
“We wanted to come in here and really establish running the ball between the tackles,” said Grayslake coach Nick Goshe. “But give Hampshire credit because they did a good job of taking that part of our game away from us. Fortunately we have a lot of playmakers. And we were able to get them some touches and they made some big plays.”
Grayslake (3-0, 1-0) scored on the opening drive of the game when Beckman rolled out to his left and found Jon Gurchak in the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown pass. Beckman and Gurchak hooked up again just before halftime on a 27-yard touchdown pass that put the Rams up 28-0 at the break.
Valdivia had the other two touchdowns in the first half. His first score came on a 64-yard screen pass in which he broke several tackles to find the end zone. He later had a 9-yard touchdown reception.
“Ray made some good reads and really played well,” said Goshe.”And Joey had some nice runs. But we almost come to expect that from him every week. He’s a special player.”
The Rams defense allowed just 152 total yards and added a touchdown in the second half when Davonte Jennings returned an interception 35 yards for a score.
“Run and hit is the name of our game on defense,” said Goshe. “We like to keep everything in front of us and not allow any big plays. I thought we were real quick to the ball tonight and we got some guys with some nasty dispositions that were really hitting.”
The Whip-Purs (0-3, 0-1) only real scoring opportunity came on the opening drive of the second half when they drove the ball from their own 20 down to Grayslake 19-yard line before the drive stalled.
“We knew what we were getting into,” said Hampshire coach Dan Cavanaugh. “This is a real good football conference and this was a real good football team we faced tonight. There’s a reason they are expected to be one of the top contenders in the conference. They have a lot of weapons on offense and they did a good job of spreading the ball around.”
Chase Lundry had 78 yards rushing on 23 carries for Hampshire.
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