Napversille North takes Naperville Central 35-21
You grow up fast in a cross-town game.
Not that Naperville North can be considered a bunch of youngsters anymore, not with six football games in the book. But in front of about 10,000 fans in Friday's Wes Spencer Classic at North Central College, the nerves hit everyone the same.
The Huskies overcame them just in time for a 35-21 win over Naperville Central, rallying from an early two-touchdown deficit and breaking away from a tie game after three quarters.
A 2-yard touchdown run by Pat Waite at the start of the fourth quarter put the Huskies ahead 28-21. A 55-yard scoring run on a quarterback keeper by Matt Manade, who also threw for 2 touchdowns, provided the insurance score with 3:35 left.
Waite, Nick Mlady and Jack Roberts combined for 294 of 328 rushing yards behind a dominant Huskies line led by Jake Baratz and Alex Helms.
"It was the first time playing this game for a lot of guys, and we just started out slow," Mlady said. "A lot of guys were nervous - I was nervous myself."
Naperville Central (4-2, 2-2) smacked the Huskies (6-0, 4-0) early, breaking out to a 13-0 lead on Nick Linne's 1-yard pass to Cameron Brate and an 82-yard interception return for a touchdown by Jeremy Pomeroy.
On that play, though, the Redhawks lost standout defensive lineman Mike Kraft to an ankle injury. They also played without defensive back Kalen Petty for much of the game because of a thigh bruise.
With about six minutes left in the half, North created a break. A Huskies punt bounded off a Naperville Central player, and Collin Ball recovered it to give the Huskies the ball at midfield.
Five plays later, on third-and-16, Manade threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Waite to narrow the gap to 13-7. They took a 14-13 to the half when Manade threw an 8-yard scoring pass to James O'Shaughnessy with only 38 seconds left.
"We came out and played hard, and I'm really proud of the way they played," said Redhawks coach Mike Stine. "There were a couple of different times we had them on the ropes and the ball didn't bounce our way. Give Naperville North credit for taking advantage of it."
A 23-yard Mlady run on a fake punt led to his 5-yard touchdown run and a 21-13 lead midway through the third quarter. Linne answered with a 36-yard touchdown pass to Russell Petty, who made a beautiful juggling catch.
Linne, who threw for 143 yards, then tied the game at 21 apiece with a 2-point pass to Brate.
After that, however, the Huskies dominated. In addition to scoring the decisive touchdowns, they also snared two of their three interceptions on the night.
"We're a young team and in the second half we just came out and proved ourselves," said Huskies senior defensive lineman Tim Weidenbacher, the lone returning defensive starter this season. "It was time for us to grow up. I'm really proud of the way we came back."
kschmit@dailyherald.com