Naperville North's new cast sinks West Aurora
You wouldn't know Naperville North was playing with a bunch of new players in new positions Friday night.
Despite a rash of injuries that forced the coaching staff to rebuild its offensive line and to juggle even healthy players from position to position, the Huskies exploded for 8 touchdowns while knocking off visiting West Aurora 55-25.
Idris Hanidu, who made the move from fullback to halfback, rushed for 159 yards and tallied a career-high 5 TDs as Naperville North (3-1, 1-1) rebounded from last week's shutout loss in a big way.
"I have to give it up for the O-line. We had new personnel on offense including Nick (Lifka) and Arnas (Gintautas) and they all came out strong for us."
Lifka, known for his bruising hits from the linebacker position, made his debut at fullback Friday and powered his way to 61 yards on 8 carries, not to mention a number of blocks that helped an attack that ran for 7 scores and close to 350 yards. Sophomore Nick Krejci took over the center duties on Friday in another of the many switches made by North.
"Nick's a load and he's going to make a name for himself at that position," Huskies coach Larry McKeon said of Lifka. "Last week wasn't really us. Glenbard North is an excellent football team but we're better than we showed."
The Blackhawks got a big night from speedy tailback Leon Spears on Friday as he rushed for 143 yards and 2 scores, while adding TDs through the air (49-yard TD reception) and on special teams (85-yard TD return to open the second half). But West Aurora had no answer for a Huskies offense that built a 35-7 lead at the half and piled up 24 first downs on the night.
"We've just got to come out with a killer mentality," said Spears, who had close to 300 all-purpose yards. "We came out flat and we can't do that. We need to play more as a team and to trust each other more."
Blackhawks coach Buck Drach was not impressed with his team's play on Friday. "We need to get more consistent at about 22 positions," he said after the one-sided setback. "They pushed us around. They ran that counter and the guy (Hanidu) was pretty quick and when they needed 3-4 yards they gave it to the fullback and he got them."
The Huskies finished off the night's opening possession with a 32-yard TD run by Hanidu, then made it 14-0 on Hanidu's 10-yard run. West countered with the first of Spears' 4 TDs, an 11-yard run set up by a 78-yard kickoff return by Nate Zinzer.
But the Huskies came back with another rushing score from Hanidu, who had 126 yards on 9 first-half runs, a 37-yard scoring pass from Matt LaCosse to Hanidu, and an 11-yard TD run by Nick Sianta as the hosts led 35-7 at the intermission. Chase Quinn and Alex Kinne also ran into the end zone in the second half for the Huskies and Hanidu tallied his fifth touchdown as North piled up 55 points, easily a season high through four weeks.