It's a done deal for Naperville Central

The game was billed as Naperville Central's passing game versus Lockport's running game.

The Redhawks, however, broke out a secret weapon.

Unleashing its best ground attack of the season, host Naperville Central pulled away to a 28-16 victory in Friday's Class 8A first-round playoff football game.

The fifth-seeded Redhawks (8-2) will play on the road next week against the winner of today's game between No. 4 Marist and No. 13 Schaumburg.

"We definitely didn't want to go out in the first round like we did last year," said Redhawks tight end Cam Brate. "It was great to come out and get the victory."

Naperville Central quarterback Nick Linne was amazingly efficient in his passing. He threw for only 114 yards, but the effort featured 4 touchdown passes, including 3 to Brate.

Linne and running back Ben Murphy, meanwhile, ate up 207 yards on the ground. While it didn't match Lockport's 274 rushing yards, headed by Dan Holman's 177, the run-pass combo proved too much for the one-dimensional Porters to handle - especially in the second half.

"Our running game was the best we've had all year," Linne said. "It completely comes down to our O-line. They got a great push every single play."

Naperville Central had two first-half leads on a pair of Linne-to-Brate touchdowns, but Lockport quarterback Kyle Billig ran for 2 touchdowns and Mitch Zeiler booted a 20-yard field goal to put the 12th-seeded Porters ahead 16-14 at the half.

After allowing 193 first-half rushing yards, the Redhawks buckled down and slowed Holman and Billig enough to keep them off the scoreboard for the final 24 minutes.

"We came out of halftime and made some changes, we knew we had to stuff them on the inside," said Redhawks defensive lineman Alex Schaefer. "We knew when we were down at halftime that we really had to step it up."

After the defense held Lockport (6-4) deep in Redhawks territory, Linne and Murphy ran seven straight running plays leading up to a third touchdown pass, a 12-yarder, to Brate that made it 21-16 heading to the fourth quarter.

Lockport again drove to Naperville Central's 25, but a high snap to Billig turned into a fumble recovery by the Redhawks' Nate Delisle. Three plays later, sparked by Linne's 42-yard run, Linne threw a 17-yard scoring pass to Hayden Daniels to put the Redhawks ahead 28-16.

That proved to be a critical touchdown because it forced Lockport out of its comfort zone in the running game. The Porters burned five minutes before turning the ball over on downs. Their final drive ended on a sack by Brate.

"We want to win state, that's our ultimate goal," Linne said. "If we keep playing like we can, we've got a chance at doing it."