Late TD gives win to Wheaton North
With its playoff hopes hanging in the wind, Wheaton North was in need of a big play late in Friday night's game at Naperville North.
After having just burned its final timeout with the score tied at 3-3 and the ball resting on the Huskies' 23-yard line, Wheaton North quarterback Reece Butler hooked up with a leaping Ben Murrow in the back of the end zone for a game-winning, and possibly playoff-spot-saving touchdown with 18 seconds left that lifted the visitors to a 10-3 win.
"With 20 seconds left we needed to make a play," said Murrow, who scored his first TD since reaching the end zone twice back in the season opener. "We went for it all, got it over the top and I went up and made a play."
The pretty score ended a defensive stretch in which neither team could do more than record first-half field goals. The Huskies, who like the Falcons now sit at 4-4 and need to win next week's regular-season finale to keep alive their playoff hopes, had to settle for a 20-yard Ryan Corp field goal on the final play of the first half after quarterback Matt LaCosse just missed connecting with Trevor Hall from the 4-yard line with barely more than two seconds left on the clock.
"It was nice to finally make a play when we needed one," said Falcons coach Joe Wardynski, whose team will square off with Glenbard East in another critical contest next week. "Both defenses played outstanding. Three-to-three with 20 seconds left, that's a football game."
The Huskies' first drive of the game ended with a John Bloss interception that led to Steve Jones' 37-yard field for a quick 3-0 lead for the visitors (4-4, 3-3). But the Naperville North defense, led by lineman George Lord and linebacker Jack Krejci, held tough the rest of the first half and pretty much stuffed the Falcons until the night's decisive drive.
The Huskies limited Wheaton North to 194 yards of total offense, and Pat Meath came away with a fumble recovery in the first quarter that was followed by one of the Huskies' best drives of the night.
But the hosts did not turn a first-and-goal from the 10 into any points when a fumbled exchange on fourth down from the 1-yard line turned the ball over to the Falcons.
Naperville North's deep drive late in the first half resulted in just 3 points and in the end, the missed opportunities proved costly after a Huskies fake punt attempt from midfield came up short when Carson Rajcan tackled Nick Sianta to give the Falcons the ball at the 50 with 3:16 left in the fourth quarter. After a 26-yard pass to Richard Finley had Jones prepping for a potential game-winning field goal, Murrow came away with his memorable play.
"I had a big play against Wheaton South in a JV game last year when I was quarterback, but this play tops that," he said. "This is a great feeling. We needed to win both (of the remaining games) and we had to have this game real bad. We kept fighting tonight, and we finally got the big drive when we had to have it."