Ugly win? Lake Park will take it
Given the driving rain and the determination to play through it, Lake Park expected an ugly Friday night game at Naperville North.
So the Lancers went out and uglied up a victory.
Quarterback Jaron Fields' 38-yard second-quarter touchdown pass to Diamante Smith turned out to be the only scoring in Lake Park's critical 7-0 DuPage Valley Conference win over the Huskies.
Other than that one play the game featured a bunch of slips, slides and missed opportunities. More than anything, though, a stout defensive effort on both sides epitomized the importance of the DVC swing game.
While the Lancers improved to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the DVC, Naperville North (0-4, 0-3) now sits on the edge of elimination from playoff contention.
"Once I got rid of the ball and I saw that my receiver had burned the cornerback, I knew that things were going well from that point," Fields said. "It was a momentum swing and that's what changed the whole game."
The expected inclement weather led to the start time being moved up to 5:15 p.m., but lightning delayed the start to just before 6 p.m. About a half-hour later, in the opening minutes of the second quarter, more lightning forced an hour-long delay.
After that the game went off without a hitch, especially for the Lancers once they scored with 3:05 left in the first half. Lake Park's defense had stopped the Huskies on a fourth-and-5 at the Huskies' 38, and on the next play Fields found Smith for the game's lone score.
"Once the rain started we committed to ugly football," said Lancers coach Chris Roll. "We just wanted to make sure it was a victory at the end."
Naperville North moved the ball well on the ground at times behind Jalen Lockhart's 105 yards on 22 carries, but the Huskies struggled to sustain drives in the soggy conditions. Twice the Huskies suffered 20-yard losses on fumbles that turned into scrambles for the ball.
The Huskies still had two fourth-quarter chances to score. The first drive stalled at Lake Park's 32 on a failed fourth-down conversion. The second drive - Naperville North's last possession in the final minutes - ended when one of those backward fumbles resulted in a fourth-and-27.
"Attitude and effort are the two things we've talked about all year, and tonight they were great," said Huskies coach Sean Drendel. "We still had a shot to win it with a minute left."
The Lancers may have scored through the air, but they kept flipping field position behind its run game - Fields and running back Melvin Smiley combined for 140 rushing yards - and solid punting by Fields.
"It was hard to get ready but we've been preparing and we were ready for it," said Lancers safety Jontrell Mitchell. "We came out and did our thing and had fun."
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