Naperville Patriots celebrate third straight football title
Pittsburgh has its Steelers, San Francisco its 49ers and Dallas its Cowboys.
None of those football dynasties ever accomplished what the Naperville Patriots just did.
The Patriots Jr. Midget Red team this month won its third straight American Youth Football championship.
Doug DiFusco's team beat the Manassas Mutiny 21-14 on Dec. 12 in Orlando for the first three-peat in AYF history.
How dominant was this group?
Naperville went 49-0 over three seasons, averaging more than 38 points a game while allowing less than 2 points a contest.
"I couldn't be prouder with what they accomplished," DiFusco said. "To do what they did is remarkable."
The Patriots won three games in Orlando to win the national title. They opened with a 46-0 win over the Garden Villa Giants from Houston, rolling up over 450 yards of total offense.
Naperville followed that with a 32-16 win over the Scottsdale Firebirds. The Patriots scored first just 17 seconds in on a 19-yard touchdown reception down the sideline. Nolan Dean recovered a Scottsdale quick kick in the end zone for a score, and Mike Dudek took in a 45-yard touchdown run. A 4-yard Dean touchdown run extended the lead to 32-16 at the half, and that is where it remained the rest of the way.
The championship was a rematch with Manassas from a year ago. Intensity wasn't lacking in a charged atmosphere that extended into the opening kickoff.
"The opening kickoff sounded like fireworks at Centennial Beach," DiFusco said.
Manassas jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead, similar to a year ago when the Patriots fell behind 12-0 to the Mutiny before winning in overtime.
Naperville answered with a 15-yard scoring strike from Dillon Gross to Dudek to go ahead 8-6. A Patriots punt later pinned the Mutiny deep and Naperville's Brendan O'Brien broke through the Manassas offensive line for a safety. Manassas pulled within 12-10 on a 73-yard touchdown run, but Gross threw another touchdown pass seconds before halftime to make it 18-12. A Gross-to-Dudek connection set up the score.
Mike Riesner booted a third-quarter field goal to push the lead to 21-12, and the Patriots defense stuffed the Mutiny from fourth-and-goal from 6 inches out to preserve the lead in a hard-hitting game.
"I've been to a lot of high school games," DiFusco said, "but I haven't heard that kind of noise from the impact of the hits."
Most of the Patriots now move on to high school, feeding into Naperville Unit District 203 and Indian Prairie Unit District 204 schools.
DiFusco, pointing to wins over the Park Ridge feeder program for two-time Class 8A champion Maine South, has high hopes for this group.
"With this kind of talent," he predicted, "there's no reason why Naperville shouldn't be winning state championships in the years ahead."
Members of the Naperville Patriots championship team are: Jacob Huff, Scott Schimanski, Peyton Mitchell, Doug DiFusco, Marcus Keith, Dillon Gross, Mike Dudek, Jeffery Brown, Mike Riesner, Jacob Huff, Latrell Starks, Nikhil Fowler, Jake Jones, Nolan Dean, Bob McMillen, Tyler Bromer, Brandon Mills, Matt Carney, Nick Moscato, Brendan O'Brien, Nick Dodson and Reggie Johnson. Coaches include Bob McMillen, Don Moscato, Doug DiFusco, Rick Dudek, Frank Gross, Titcus Pettigrew, Mark Dodson and Chris Schmidt.