Naperville North comes back to beat Glenbard East

Naperville North survived an early scare to keep its playoff hopes alive.

Huskies senior quarterback Matt LaCosse threw for 2 touchdowns and ran for another as the Huskies rolled past visitor Glenbard East 49-21 in DuPage Valley Conference action Friday night.

After Glenbard East jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, the Huskies responded with 42 consecutive points before the Rams could answer again.

“Everyone forgets that when you play in the DVC, there are a lot of good football teams, Naperville North coach Sean Drendel said. “They're a good football team, and if you're not careful, they'll jump on you. Once we got things moving, it was a nice evening for us.

The Rams (3-4, 1-4) roared to an early 14-0 lead on a 72-yard pass from senior Steven Kinney to senior receiver Kevin Priebe. The Rams recovered a fumble and then drove down for another touchdown, this time on 6-yard dash from Kinney. But it would be the last scoring drive for the Rams until the fourth quarter.

“We came out ready to play, Glenbard East coach Dennis Lueck said. “We got some breaks and we took advantage of them. But we wore down as the game went on.

The Huskies (5-2, 3-2) responded with a 12-yard touchdown run from junior back Dan Puknitas to pull within a touchdown. After forcing a fumble, the Huskies marched down the field again and scored on a tipped pass in the end zone. Senior receiver Craig Montgomery lunged for a tipped ball and came up with it to tie the game at 14. But the Huskies weren't finished.

Senior running back Antonio Owens bolted into the end zone on a 17-yard reverse to put the Huskies ahead 21-14. Owens hauled in a touchdown catch for the next score, reeling in a 17-yard touchdown dart from LaCosse. From there, the rout was on.

“We didn't come out very focused, and it was a wakeup call, Owens said about the Huskies' offensive explosion. “We had to get it together.

The Huskies finished with 394 yards, with 326 of those yards on the ground. Drendel credited a talented group of players for such a dominating effort.

“I think our running backs all of them have been so good, Drendel said. “It was a nice night for us, and offensively, we did a great job.