Glenbard West handles Wheaton North

Glenbard West made the plays on fourth down that Wheaton North couldn't. It was as simple as that.

Offensively, those fourth-down plays led to both Glenbard West touchdowns in a 14-0 Class 7A first-round playoff football game in Glen Ellyn. Defensively, the Hilltoppers stopped Wheaton North whenever the Falcons threatened to score.

"They had two fourth-down plays that were the difference in the game," Falcons coach Joe Wardynski said. "They had a fourth-down completion on a fourth-and-15, and they had a fake punt that kept a drive going. They scored after that."

Fullback Matt Hassan scored the first Hilltoppers touchdown, a 3-yard run 2:37 before halftime. It came just one play after quarterback Chris Cochrane found running back Bryant Venson on fourth down for a 32-yard pass down the middle.

Adam Bruere's 3-yard touchdown run with 10:42 to go fell just four plays after Robert Cook gained 26 yards to the Wheaton North 15 on a fake punt.

The Falcons (5-5) got the ball back three times after Bruere's touchdown. David McCaffrey ended the first drive with an interception at the Hilltoppers' 2-yard line. Three minutes later Falcons running back Mike Trumpy came up inches short on a fourth-and-2 at the Glenbard West 16.

"Trumpy's a great athlete," Hilltoppers linebacker Kyle Krumwiede said after Trumpy was held to 35 yards rushing on 16 carries. "I think a lot of it was we weren't letting them get up the middle. He didn't really have holes. We were closing on him quick, and our safeties were coming up on the edges really well so he couldn't get outside either."

Finally, on fourth-and-goal at the 3 with less than a minute to go, Krumwiede slapped a pass out of the hands of a Wheaton North receiver, stopping the Falcons' last chance.

"Wheaton North is a good team, and obviously we couldn't drive the ball and run out the clock," said Hassan, who drew praise from his coach for gaining 47 yards on 11 carries. "But our defense stepped up like they always do. Our defense is probably one of the best in the state, so I was counting on them to pick the offense up, as they do every week."

"Defensively, I thought we did a nice job against a good offense," Wardynski added. "But we told the defense that they they've got a very good defense themselves and we've got to limit scores. I thought maybe one, two at max would give us a chance. It may have. We just didn't capitalize. We had the ball in the red zone a bunch of times and just didn't execute."

The top-seeded Hilltoppers (10-0) will host No. 4 seed Fenwick (7-3) next Saturday.