Naperville Central's Linne goes the toughest half yard
Nick Linne called it the toughest half yard he's ever had to run.
By plunging into the end zone from that half yard, the Naperville Central senior quarterback put an end to a thrilling DuPage Valley Conference clash Friday night for a 26-23 overtime win over host Wheaton North.
The victory kept Naperville Central (6-1, 4-1) in the hunt for a conference title, while handing Wheaton North (3-4, 2-3) a tough setback in a week in which it learned its starting quarterback Taylor Graham would be lost for the season with his knee injury.
"We tried to spread them out a little bit on that last play, but they knew we were going to rush," said Linne, who threw 3 touchdown passes to go along with his game-winning quarterback sneak.
Linne felt he had to redeem himself after dropping a wide open pass on a flea-flicker play in the waning seconds of regulation that could have sealed a win for the Redhawks.
"Did you see that drop?" Linne asked. "If we had lost this game, I could have never forgiven myself. I just took my eye off the ball, I guess that's why I am a quarterback."
The Redhawks can be glad that Linne is their quarterback as his 250 yards passing and 76 yards rushing helped overcome a fired-up Falcons squad hoping for some homecoming magic.
The Falcons had Naperville Central on the ropes a few times, including in the overtime, when a 25-yard field goal by Steve Jones gave them a 23-20 lead before Linne's winning plunge on fourth down capped Naperville Central's series from the 10-yard line.
"I'm really proud of our kids, they battled for four quarters-plus," Wheaton North coach Joe Wardynski said. "Central snuck it over there on fourth down-and-inches and did a nice job as well.
"We put some drives together and had some nice big plays in the passing game, and that's what we were looking for," Wardynski added. "It really hurts to come out on the losing end of a game like that, but we have two games left and we know we need both of them."
Naperville Central coach Mike Stine was glad to walk off with a win, but he knew it was a game that Wheaton North also could have won.
"I feel sad for their kids, because maybe they deserved to win too," Stine said. "We have great senior leadership on our team, and this is the fourth game that has literally gone down to the last play, so we've been in these tight games and we have some kids who can make plays down the stretch."
The Falcons were also making plays, especially junior wide receiver Richard Finley, who pulled down touchdown receptions of 49 and 28 yards from quarterback Reed Butler, making spectacular open-field moves both times to score - late in the first half and early in the second half.
Wheaton North's other touchdown came on a 1-yard plunge by Jhamal Johnson that opened the scoring in the first quarter.
Linne connected with Hayden Daniels for a 33-yard scoring strike in the first quarter and also found halfback Ben Murphy on a 9-yard screen pass for a touchdown in the second quarter.
His final touchdown pitch was his biggest, a 15-yard bullet to Chris Levine with less than four minutes left in the game that tied the score at 20-20.
The stage was set for Central and Linne when Butler just missed connecting with Hunter Thorson on two tosses in the end zone during the Falcons' overtime series.