Recruit Roundup: Albright advances in playoffs

MORE: Fleurima edges Petrucci in epic Northwestern commit battle

We wrote about the thrilling showdown between Northwestern commits Reggie Fleurima and Chris Petrucci in another story, but there were two other future Cats in action over the weekend.

2021 tight end signee Lawson Albright posted a second playoff win, while 2021 OL signee Jackson Carsello wrapped up his season on a downward note with a loss.

Here's this week's roundup.

Future Northwestern tight end Lawson Albright and No. 1-seed Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley made easy work of Durham Hillside in a 42-7 romp to advance to the regional final for the second straight season.

It took the Whirlies all of 41 seconds to grab the lead and they never looked back behind an outstanding performance from quarterback Alonza Barrett, who accounted for four of Grimsley's six touchdowns.

Barrett went 16-of-26 passing for 210 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran the ball 11 times for 61 yards and two more scores. Barrett got support from running back Jeiel Melton, who ran for 68 yards and two TDs, and wide receiver Anthony Dunkins, who caught five Barrett passes for 108 yards and one score.

Grimsley is now 8-0 and will host Matthews Butler (8-1) in the regional final on Friday night.

When fall high school football was canceled in North Carolina, Albright thought about graduating early and enrolling at Northwestern in January.

He's glad he stuck around.

“I really thought about (leaving early) in November when it wasn’t looking good but I knew that if there was any chance to play, I wanted to stay because I knew it would be worth it," Albright told the News & Record. "Just how close we got last year, we had unfinished business.”

Northwestern 2021 OL signee Jackson Carsello and Northbrook (Ill.) Glenbrook North didn't close out their spring season the way they wanted, dropping their finale to Deerfield, 18-3.

The Spartans, from the Central Suburban League South, took on the Warriors, from the CSL North, in a cross-divisional matchup that many conferences throughout the Chicagoland area used to cap the season in lieu of playoffs.

Once again, the Spartans' struggling offense did them in. GBN scored in double figures just twice all season; not surprisingly, those were the two games they won.

The Spartans ended their season with a record of 2-4, but at least they won their rivalry game against Gleenbrook South, the alma mater of Kurt Anderson, Carsello's future position coach at Northwestern.

There are two other signees from Illinois and North Carolina in Northwestern's 2021 class who would be playing spring football. But LB Mac Uihlein of Lake Forest (Ill.) and WR Jacob Gill of Raleigh (N.C.) Cardinal Gibbons are both early enrollees at Northwestern who just wrapped up spring practice on Saturday.