Naperville Central slips past Glenbard North
Many times football teams are judged on how well they can make adjustments. The right adjustment can lead to victory.
That's what happened to Naperville Central when it won Friday night's season opener 13-12 over host Glenbard North.
With just more than 11 minutes left in the game, the Redhawks got the ball on the Panthers' 40-yard line. A 25-yard gain by quarterback Conor Joyce and two runs for 8 yards by Luke Brady put Naperville Central at the Glenbard North 7.
Joyce found receiver Emmanuel Rugamba in the corner of the end zone for an apparent score. But off-setting penalties wiped that score out.
Two plays later, Connor Assalley was brought out to attempt a 24-yard field goal. But then the Redhawks called a timeout.
“We put in a package this week in practice called ‘jumbo.' Trevor Campbell moved to fullback and we could get the yardage and I ran behind him,” Brady said.
And he ran behind him all the way to the end zone for a 5-yard TD run with 8:22 left in the game. The 2-point conversion pass that followed failed, but the Redhawks had a 1-point lead.
The Panthers, however, were not going away. They got the ball back with 6:01 left in the game on their own 32-yard line and worked their way to the Naperville Central 40. Glenbard North went for the long pass, but it was grabbed by Rugamba. The Redhawks ran out the rest of the clock and took the victory home.
“Coach (Mike Stine) said each half there are four or five big plays that we needed to take advantage of,” Rugamba said. “Give credit to Glenbard North and their defense. We came out and had to find our rhythm.”
Rugamba put the Redhawks on the board first late in the first quarter when he caught a 4-yard pass from Joyce.
Naperville Central's season opener was always a challenge when it faced Waubonsie Valley the last several years. With District 204 schools now in the DuPage Valley Conference, teams are facing different schedules. The Redhawks always like facing the challenge of Glenbard North, but it did feel different facing the Panthers in Week 1.
“It's a big change. We faced Waubonsie 10 or how many years,” Brady said. “It's a change of pace. But Glenbard North is always a tough team, a tough matchup and we did what we could do to get the win.”
It was a big night for Glenbard North junior running back Vittorio Tricase. He rushed for 120 yards and caught passes for 85 yards and was responsible for both of the Panthers' TDs.
He cut the Naperville Central advantage to 7-6 with just under two minutes left in the first half when he caught a 70-yard pass from quarterback Shane Conway and ran alone most of the way to the end zone. The Panthers got the ball to start the second half and Tricase broke two tackles en route to a 53-yard scoring run. A 2-point conversion run railed, but Glenbard North went ahead 12-7.
Panthers coach Ryan Wilkens was pleased with how his team's defense performed but said the offense needs consistency.
“We prefer to do ball control. Tonight, we would gain 3, 4, 5 yards and then we would jump. We had self-inflicted wounds — a dropped pass, didn't know the route or a motion penalty,” he said.