Naperville Central's fortunes turn in second half

You have to wonder what Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said during halftime of the Best of the West championship.

Whatever he barked at his team, it worked.

The Redhawks rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to defeat Benet 3-1 to reclaim the tournament title.

Benet won it last year. Naperville Central last claimed the top honors in 2012.

"It was a lot of what we said before the game," Adams said. "We kind of understand that when we play the way we want to play - and we're still in the stage of the season where we're doing that - we're a good team bordering on a great team."

There's no doubt that Naperville Central was aggressively on the attack over the final 40 minutes. The Redhawks wasted less than a minute in the second half to draw even on a Noah Hey goal.

"We kept fighting back," Hey said. "We knew we were in this and just had to keep battling back."

They extended their lead with 36:59 remaining on a Daniel Poole goal.

"We wanted to come out and make a difference to get us back in the game in the second half," Poole said. "We were able to do that and keep on attacking."

Their attack became an especially dominant factor in the second half, and it continued over the final minutes as the Redhawks attacked the goal while shedding chances for their opponents.

"I think in the first half we weren't able to do some things," Hey said. "In the second half we came out very strong and I think that helped us take over the game."

Benet (4-1-0) seemingly was overmatched physically and unable to take advantage of its early lead.

"To play Naperville North and then come here and play Naperville Central five hours later, I just didn't think we had the legs," Benet coach Sean Wesley said. "That was a tough task."