Naperville North wants to win for McKeon

Think Naperville North's football team might have a little extra motivation this postseason?

For the 23rd and final time, Huskies coach Larry McKeon will take his team into the playoffs before retiring at the end of his 27th year at the helm.

Right now, though, McKeon has no time to think about the end of his hall of fame coaching career. Not with a first-round Class 8A showdown looming against unbeaten Fremd at 7 p.m. today in Palatine.

"I'm not really thinking about retirement right now," McKeon said. "We've got too much work to do to get ready for a good football team."

The work against top-seeded Fremd starts on defense, where all season the No. 16 Huskies (5-4) have been led by a stellar trio of linebackers - junior Nick Lifka and seniors Jack Krejci and Arnas Gintautas.

Thin on the defensive line because of injuries, Naperville North will be hard-pressed to stop the constant pounding of running back Evan Wright, who's rushed for 1,812 yards and 25 touchdowns behind Notre Dame-bound lineman Christian Lombard.

"They're going to be tough to handle, but we feel like we can do some things to be successful," McKeon said.

Naperville North's offense has been in a state of flux all season because of injuries, but one constant is running back Idris Hanidu, who enters the game with 1,055 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.

Fremd boasts another tremendous defensive unit, so the Huskies need to be as diverse as possible with junior quarterback Matt LaCosse's passing game. Naperville North must keep the Vikings off-balance.

It's a unique matchup for the Huskies, and not only because they're trying to prevent it from being McKeon's last.

"We've never been a 16th seed before, but that doesn't matter at all to us," McKeon said. "All we can do is just go out and play our best."