Chicago-Area High School Football News and Scores | Season Pass

Hampshire began the Fox Valley Fox portion of its schedule the same way it wrapped up a recent series of nonconference games: On a serious roll.

The Whip-Purs were clicking on all cylinders once again Friday night as they bombarded visiting Grayslake Central 62-39 for their seventh win in a row.

Tyler Crater continued his blistering start to the season by scoring a game-high 18 points as Hampshire (7-1, 1-0) led by as many as 30 in the fourth quarter before coach Bob Barnett emptied his bench.

“That’s fun basketball, especially early in the season when you’re trying to put things together and see what your identity is,” Crater said. “Good games like this are always fun.”

It seemed as if the Whip-Purs could do no wrong on offense as they committed only four turnovers in the first half while building a 37-15 lead at the break. Their final points of the half came when Ryan Cork navigated traffic and fed Mike Dumoulin for a transition layup as time expired in the second quarter.

Hampshire finished the contest shooting 51.9 percent (27-for-52) from the field. Cork contributed 13 points and four assists and sophomore Matt Bridges pitched in with 12 points and eight rebounds for the Whips.

“We played real well today and shot the ball real well,” Barnett said. “We had a feeling (Grayslake Central was) going to pressure, pressure, pressure, which is what they did. I thought we handed that really well in the first half.”

The Rams have only one contributor back from last year’s team, and their inexperience showed as they lost their sixth in a row.

Grayslake Central (1-7, 0-1) finished with 19 turnovers and trailed 53-27 after the third quarter. Senior Danny Reed led the Rams with 10 points.

“We got steam rolled by a really good team on their floor,” Grayslake Central coach Brian Moe said. “They played really hard and we did not play hard. We just don’t know what it means to play varsity basketball right now.”

HAMPSHIRE 62, GRAYSLAKE CENTRAL 39

Grayslake Central (1-7, 0-1)

D. Reed 3 4-4 10, Anderson 3 1-1 7, M. Reed 2 1-2 5, Mudd 2 1-3 5, Vargo 2 0-0 4, Lennartz 2 0-0 4, Spalding 1 0-0 2, Strickland 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 7-10 39.

Hampshire (7-1, 1-0)

Crater 9 0-0 18, Cork 5 2-2 13, Bridges 4 4-4 12, Hernandez 4 0-0 8, Dumoulin 3 0-1 6, Tuttle 2 0-0 4, Jansen 0 1-3 1. Totals 27 7-10 62.

Hampshire                16     21     16     9     --     62

Grayslake Central      6       9      12     12    --    39

Three-point goals – GLC: None. Hampshire: 1 (Cork). Fouled out – None.