Naperville Central downs Waubonsie Valley
Timing is everything.
Ian Lewandowski completed 1 of 2 passes switching in for Naperville Central starting quarterback Hayden Daniels, but than one was a doozy.
On fourth and 7 from the Waubonsie Valley 36-yard line late in the fourth quarter and down a point, Lewandowski found Tyler Bell on a 23-yard strike to keep the Redhawks' drive alive.
Three plays later, still at Waubonsie's 13, Daniels rolled left, cut back and wasn't hit until crossing the goal line with 1:06 to play.
Waubonsie's Trey Waldman delivered a bell-ringer, but not to worry - Lewandowski ran in the 2-point conversion to give Naperville Central a 17-10 victory at Waubonsie Valley's Dick Kerner Stadium in Aurora.
"We tried the same play with Tyler Bell, we tried the bubble pass," Lewandowski said of the conversion. "I decided to roll out, and there were no wide receivers in the end zone, so I decided to take it myself and the offensive line blocked for me."
Naperville Central has won three straight over Waubonsie Valley and leads the cross-district series 3-1. The Redhawks, controlling all but three minutes of the fourth quarter after Waubonsie took a 10-9 lead on Matt Girardot's 23-yard field goal at 1:27 of the third quarter, went 89 yards on their winning drive.
"We were able to mix it up," said Naperville Central coach Mike Stine. "That fourth-down play was huge down there. Ian made a great read."
Tailback Matt Randolph, who ran for 91 yards, ran for 2 first downs on the drive, Lewandowski converted one apiece passing, throwing and receiving, and Daniels hit Derrick Avers on third and 12 before the lefty slinger paid the price on his touchdown scramble.
"That's what a quarterback has to do sometimes, is sacrifice his body," said Daniels, 11 of 23 passing for 115 yards.
Waubonsie nearly pulled off a one-minute drill. Quarterback Tom Kolzow threw to Eric Josupait for 3 first downs and ran for another, moving his team 59 yards to the Redhawk 15-yard line with 12 seconds left. A delay penalty and two incompletes ended it.
"You've got to finish the little things and it'll all come together," said Kolzow, 15-of-25 passing for 127 yards, 81 of them to Josupait. "In the end we had two passes in the end zone and we almost completed (them). We were 1.9 seconds away."
Waubonsie Valley went up 7-0 on Kolzow's second-quarter 4-yard run and Girardot's kick. Randolph scampered 29 yards to cut Warriors' halftime lead to 7-6. Nathan Laskowski put Naperville Central up 9-7 on a 34-yard field goal at 7:09 of the third.
"It was a great game, but we didn't get it done because we didn't win," said Warriors coach Paul Murphy.