It was a career night for Carter Grabowski.

His 225 yards on 25 carries propelled his Kaneland Knights to a win against a scrappy Lemont team, 42-37.

“I’m just proud of our guys up front,” Grabowski said. “We imposed our will.”

Kaneland came out of the gates red hot, marching down the field on its opening drive 72 yards in four plays, capped off by a 49-yard catch and run from Grabowski, followed by a 13-yard touchdown run from the senior, his first of three touchdowns on the night.

“We were ecstatic,” Grabowski said about the hot start. “I love the feeling of getting into the end zone.”

Lemont would answer with a touchdown of its own on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Michael Preuss to Matthew Ciesla to tie the game at seven.

“I think it was a great overall team offensive performance,” Lemont coach Willie Hayes said. “It was awesome to see Preuss and Ceisla get connected and make some plays for us.”

Grabowski continued to have his way with the Lemont defense on the next two offensive drives for the Knights, punching it in from 19 yards and 12 yards, respectively.

Kaneland quarterback Jalen Carter wanted to get in on the action as well, finding Brady Brown on the backend of a nasty route to shake his defender for a 20-yard touchdown to give the Knights a 28-7 lead.

“With Grabowski and Carter back there, that duo makes it hard to focus on one guy,” Kaneland coach Mike Thorgesen said. “Things hit, and I think our offensive line played really courageously.”

Carter finished the day 9 of 23 for 114 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

His favorite target, Brown, finished the evening with six receptions for 55 yards and two touchdowns, including a score with two seconds left in the first half to give the Knights a 35-17 lead at halftime.

Despite the deficit, Lemont did not back down, outscoring the Knights 14-0 in the quarter.

“I’m proud of the way they responded,” Hayes said. “That’s something that we’re going to harp on and make sure we continue to improve on as we go along in the season.”

Lemont’s Jakub Maka picked off Carter on the third play of the second half, sparking some life into the Lemont sideline. Preuss would go on to orchestrate a 13-play, 60-yard drive, capped off by a Jackson Dybcio one-yard touchdown.

“I think we let off the gas a little too much,” Grabowski said.

Pruess had one more punch to throw: a 30-yard touchdown pass to Aiden Rudman on a wheel route out of the backfield, cutting the Knights’ lead to 35-31.

Pruess turned in an impressive performance of his own, completing 21 of 39 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. Ciesla hauled in 10 of those completions for 153 yards and two touchdowns of his own.

“He was patient, he made good reads; he made good throws,” Hayes said of his quarterback. “Our offensive line did a good job giving him time to make those throws, and our receivers did a good job getting into open windows.”

The Knights took back control, however, in the fourth quarter with a stop on fourth down backed up into the red zone, bringing the momentum back to the home sideline.

“Our kids manned up and played big boy football,” Thorgesen said. “Our offense took over and scored. That was big.”

After the stop, Carter led a five-play 85-yard drive that featured a 46-yard run from Jackson Little and a 6-yard touchdown run from Carter, his third total touchdown on the night.

That was all the separation the Knights needed.

Despite starting 2-0, Grabowski is just trying to live in the moment.

“I’m just thinking about 1-0 each week,” he said. “Next game.”

That kind of leadership means a lot to a football program, and it means a lot to Thorgesen.

“He does everything,” an emotional Thorgesen said. “He’s a special player, and he gives it his all and does everything for us.

“I’m just really proud of him.”