Naperville N. goes 98 yards for glory
Ninety-eight yards and a ball of mud.
Glory doesn't have to be pretty.
Behind an epic 98-yard drive that folks will talk about for years to come, Naperville North claimed the outright DuPage Valley Conference football title with Friday's 7-6 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South in some of the worst playing conditions imaginable.
Quarterback Matt Manade's 26-yard touchdown run, an option play that included a fake to fullback Jack Roberts, tied the game 6-6 with 6:39 left.
The outcome then boiled down to Nolan Randall's snap, Matt LaCosse's hold and Dan Villalba's extra point that made it 7-6.
"All game we'd been getting killed, we'd been getting stopped," Manade said. "We drove all the way down and felt like we couldn't be stopped."
Trailing 6-0 near the end of the third quarter, Naperville North - which struggled to move the ball in a near-constant rain - was pinned at its 1-and-a-half yard line after a beautifully placed punt by the Tigers' Nick Immekus.
Through plodding patience, the Huskies (9-0, 7-0) slithered down the field on a drive that went 98 yards in 12 plays and six minutes, 44 seconds.
Nick Mlady had 8 carries for 33 of his 112 yards and caught an 11-yard pass. There was also a 15-yard pass interference call the Tigers (8-1, 6-1) protested to no avail, but it served to balance an earlier tough interference call against the Huskies.
More than half the Huskies' 179 total yards came on the decisive drive.
"The defense really kept us going," Mlady said. "It was just a great team effort that turned it all around."
Friday's game marked the second straight year the powers met as unbeatens playing for the conference title. The Tigers won last year's showdown 42-41 in triple overtime to claim a third straight DVC title but this time came a point shy of winning an unprecedented fourth straight crown.
While Naperville North enters the playoffs on a 14-game winning streak as defending Class 8A state champion, WW South had its 27-game DVC winning snapped as well as its 35-game regular-season winning streak.
"Miserable football night in terms of weather," said Tigers coach Ron Muhitch. "It's a shame the conference title has to be played in an environment like this. To their credit they went (98) yards... to get a DVC title, and they did it."
The game was halted due to lightning four plays into the action, a delay that lasted an hour and 10 minutes. WW South took a 6-0 lead on its own quarterback keeper from Joe Furco, a 68-yard burst keyed by a huge downfield block by receiver Greg McAndrew.
One of the game's biggest plays, however, came on the ensuing extra point when Huskies sophomore Nick Liftka blocked the kick.
It was one of many big defensive plays on a night that saw a combined 10 punts and 354 total yards.
In an interesting twist to the game, it's the last one to be played on grass at Naperville North's Harshbarger-Welzel Field. On Monday the turf is being removed to make way for an artificial surface.
With an unbeaten record the Huskies are assured a home playoff game in next week's first round, but the game will be played at Lisle's Benedictine University.
The excavation job became a little easier Friday night as every player wore chunks of the field on their uniforms, shoes, faces, helmets and hands.
As much as they all need a good washing, every Naperville North player would gladly keep wearing the mud as a memory.
"It was the funnest game I've ever played," said Huskies defensive lineman Casey Domek. "I don't think I'll ever forget this night."
kschmit@dailyherald.com