Naperville Central gets needed victory
Naperville Central took its game against Glenbard East as if it was a playoff game Friday night.
The Redhawks came into the game with a 2-2 record knowing every win is huge win as they strive to get to the 5-win mark needed for a playoff berth.
Naperville Central's urgency paid off with a 34-14 road win over the Rams in Lombard.
"We have to approach every game as if it were a playoff game from now on," Naperville Central coach Mike Stine said. "We need to get to 5 wins, and in this conference, no game is a guaranteed win. Tonight we played hard and got into a nice rhythm."
One aspect of the game the Redhawks (3-2, 2-1) excelled in was the running game. Naperville Central used its large offensive line to rush for 317 yards as Matt Randolph ran for 198 yards on 22 carries with touchdown runs of 49 and 43 yards.
"The offensive line did a great job tonight and allowed me to make my cutbacks," Randolph said. "We knew this was a must-win for us tonight, and we came out strong. Everything depends on our offensive line. If they don't block, I don't go anywhere. Obviously, they did a great job tonight."
The Rams (3-2, 1-2) got on the board first when Steven Kinney scored on a quarterback keeper from 39 yards out. After that score the Redhawks scored the next 27 points to grab a 27-7 halftime lead, putting the game out of reach.
The second quarter was particularly good for Naperville Central quarterback Hayden Daniels as he had a 4-yard touchdown run and hooked up with Nathan Laskowski on a 15-yard touchdown pass.
Glenbard East coach Dennis Lueck spoke of the same urgency as Stine did after the game.
"Just like them, we are also trying to get to that magic number 5," Lueck said. "We didn't get the job done tonight. Tonight we played a terrible second quarter where we let them score 3 times. We need to play all four quarters, all 48 minutes to get wins in this conference. Tonight we were undisciplined and that hurt us."
Kinney finished the game with 88 yards rushing and 41 yards passing in the loss.