WW South makes it look easy vs. Naperville North
You could feel a collective sigh of relief come from Wheaton Warrenville South's sideline.
No overtime, no heartbreak. Just domination ... at least for a half.
After two seasons of nail-biters against Naperville North, WW South rode a phenomenal second-half performance to claim a 38-7 victory over the Huskies, who before Friday's football game dedicated their newly renovated stadium.
The Tigers (4-1, 3-0), trailing 7-0 in the second quarter, scored 38 straight points and broke open a 10-7 game at the half. Junior quarterback Reilly O'Toole, who played almost exclusively after splitting time with Mack Tracey in prior games, threw for 2 touchdowns and rushed for 2 more to power the offense.
"We knew they were a good defense, they've got three stud linebackers," said O'Toole, who completed 12 of 21 passes for 230 yards and rushed for 51 yards. "We knew we had to run on them to set up the pass to play-action, and we had some big plays on play-action."
It was a far different story than last year's 7-6 regular-season finale that earned Naperville North the DuPage Valley Conference title. And it certainly wasn't as dramatic as the 2007 triple-overtime Week 9 game, won by the Tigers as they claimed the DVC crown.
Friday's second-half breeze was fine with WW South, though. After O'Toole threw an 8-yard third-quarter scoring pass to Matt Rogers to build a 17-7 lead, the Tigers added 3 fourth-quarter touchdowns starting with a 76-yard pass from O'Toole to Greg McAndrew.
O'Toole tacked on a 28-yard touchdown run and Andrew Holten capped the scoring with a 5-yard run.
"It started off bad in the second half and we couldn't pick it up from there," said Huskies linebacker Arnas Gintautas, who also played offensive line because of several team injuries. "I don't know, something definitely came over us. Maybe they just came out playing harder."
Naperville North looked strong early behind Idris Hanidu, who rushed for 139 yards on 17 carries, and a ground game that ran the ball on 34 of its 48 plays. Nick Sianta scored on a 3-yard run to end a 13-play drive that gave the Huskies a 7-0 lead.
O'Toole's 3-yard touchdown run tied it and Nick Immekus, who blasted seven touchbacks, gave WW South a 10-7 halftime lead with a 29-yard field goal.
WW South's defense allowed only 60 yards in the second half, and Naperville North didn't get a second-half first down until its final drive in the waning minutes.
"We knew we had to stop the run after the first half, and our offense really came on and put a bunch of points up," said Tigers defensive lineman Matt Ives. "That forced them into passing the ball, and that helped us shut them down."