Naperville North 37, West Chicago 0
West Chicago football coach John Walters saw a lot of great things on the field Friday night. Unfortunately for him and his Wildcats, most of them were being turned in by unbeaten Naperville North.
After Walters watched the 4-0 Huskies dominate his squad 37-0 in Naperville, the Wildcats coach raved about how potent the Huskies' attack is (Friday's 37 points ended a three-game streak of scoring 40 or more points). Yet Walters added plenty of praise for a Naperville North defense that recorded its second shutout of the year.
"I just told the North guys that that's about as good a team as I've seen," said Walters, who has spent 12 years around the DuPage Valley Conference as a player and a coach. "Offensively, they're a five-headed monster. They've got a fullback, two tailbacks, a quarterback and a receiver. On defense their front seven is big, fast and strong. They're just a good football team."
West Chicago (1-3, 0-2) actually looked in position to score first following an apparent interception and 74-yard return by Barrett Serrato down to the Huskies' 18-yard line. But the Wildcats were whistled for interference on the play, and that set the stage for Nick Mlady's 8-yard touchdown run on the very next play that gave the Huskies a 7-0 lead.
The lead grew to 14-0 after one quarter following a 5-yard scoring run by Tom Costantino that was set up by the senior running back's 52-yard run.
"It was a mistake by us," Costantino said of the near-interception early on. "We were kind of lucky to get it back. Things kind of started going our way from the beginning."
With quarterback Jordan Tassio rushing for 117 yards and one score, Costantino going over 100 yards with 2 scores, and wide receiver Alex Dieckmann wrestling a pass away from Serrato for a sparkling 17-yard TD catch in the third quarter, it's no wonder Walters was impressed by Naperville North. The Huskies gained 348 yards on the ground compared to 37 for West Chicago.
Dieckmann is hopeful his team can continue its torrid pace when it travels to Glenbard North next Friday.
"Obviously, we want to go in their next week and do the same things," he said. "Glenbard North's a good team, but our offense is playing well and the defense has been huge. The defensive line is getting sacks, the linebackers are flying around and the DBs are playing well."
West Chicago quarterback Chris Wille completed 6 of 19 passes for 78 yards and was sacked 4 times. Tailback James Eckler was held to minus-1 yard on 7 carries by the Huskies defense.