Boys water polo: Naperville Central advances to state past Naperville North
The Naperville Central boys water polo team's offense was on full display during Saturday's 14-8 win over Naperville North in the Metea Valley sectional final.
The top-seeded Redhawks were also glad that their defense was in top form. It was needed to stop the effective offense of the second-seeded Huskies.
"The defense stepped up and did a fantastic job. Defense wins championships," said Naperville Central coach Bill Salentine, whose team is 32-0. "We practice a lot of team defense every day in practice, block shots and intercepting passes."
The next stop for Naperville Central, which is making its second straight state appearance, is Thursday's state quarterfinal game at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire. The Redhawks play York at 8:15 p.m. York edged Fenwick 10-9 to win its own sectional.
"As freshmen we saw the seniors that were so good and we were looking forward to it. Now this is our year,"said senior Nick Walker, who led Naperville Central with 6 goals.
The scoring came quickly as the Redhawks' Phillip Emden scored 14 seconds into the game. Naperville North's Matt Magee that tied the game 4½ minutes later. Between goals the Redhawks hit a goalpost and two crossbars and the Huskies hit a crossbar.
Naperville North (23-8) started penetrating deep into Naperville Central territory, setting up its offense and working the ball around for the best shot with many of those attempts blocked at the defense.
Walker scored the final goal of the opening quarter and the Redhawks led 2-1.
The second quarter saw Naperville Central score 5 of the next 7 goals to take a 7-3 lead. Goals from the Redhawks came from Matt Reagan and two each from Walker and Brian Calabrese.
Cole Jacobs closed the scoring with 1:53 remaining until halftime, pulling the Huskies to within 7-4. Jacobs led Naperville North with 4 goals.
"We haven't started out well in a lot of games. We have been up a goal or two, but the intensity hasn't been there. We kicked it up a notch in the second," Salentine said.
The third quarter saw the Redhawks stay in control, but with the Huskies still within range. Naperville Central led 11-7 thanks to goals by Kyle Jackson, Phillip Emden, Reagan and Walker.
The Redhawks struck for three goals in the final quarter, two from Walker and one from Jackson. Magee struck for the Huskies.
"(The Huskies) are club teammates. It's always fun to play against them," Walker said.
Winning goalie Kent Emden made 10 saves.
Naperville North coach Martin Bell was pleased with how the Huskies' offense performed but said it was crucial for Naperville North to have taken control from the start or trail by a smaller margin to have had a chance to prevail.
"It's high school sports. You have a close game, a mistake happens. You counter that mistake and things are going your way," he said.
It was another successful season for the Huskies and Bell said his team can build from that.
"I've talked to the juniors about keeping going from here and hopefully the sophomores and juniors can respond like this year's seniors," he said.