Naperville Central remains in playoff contention
After back-to-back nail-biting losses to Naperville North and Wheaton North dropped Naperville Central to 3-4 on the season, the Redhawks had two ways to approach the final two weeks of the season: feel sorry for themselves, or know that a pair of wins would still get them into the postseason.
The Redhawks chose the latter approach on Friday night, using a 21-point second quarter as the foundation for a 31-7 DuPage Valley Conference defeat of visiting West Chicago. The victory means that the Redhawks (4-4, 3-3) go into their final game at Glenbard North (7-1) knowing that a win punches their ticket to the Class 8A playoffs.
“We had to get through Week 8 because Week 9 didn't matter if you didn't get through Week 8, and now we have a chance and it's going to be a fun week, said Naperville Central coach Mike Stine. “Now it's a playoff football game against one of the top teams in the state, and I know our kids will be up for it.
Stine lauded his squad's physical play against West Chicago (1-7, 0-6), and that attitude was on full display as Naperville Central started the game with Matt Randolph running the ball on eight straight plays and 11 times on an opening drive that ended with Nate Laskowski's 27-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
The Redhawks then used the quick strike to take firm control of the game in the second quarter. Hayden Daniels eluded three defenders in the backfield to fire an 8-yard scoring strike to Chris Levine to make it 10-0.
Then, after Randolph recovered a Wildcats fumble on the ensuing kickoff, Daniels connected with Tyler Bell between double coverage from 21 yards out and it was 17-0 just 12 seconds later. Then on the first play after Bell blocked a West Chicago punt, he hauled in Daniels' 45-yard pass for a 24-0 halftime lead. For those scoring at home, that was three offensive snaps for Naperville Central and three Daniels TD passes.
“Daniels is such a good athlete and he made our guys miss and found the guy on the first one, and on the second one we had it covered and didn't make a play, said West Chicago coach Paul Reinke.
Offensively, the Wildcats were able to make some headway behind the run-pass threat of quarterback Josh Stein, but too often a penalty would rear its head and thwart a promising drive. The Wildcats did get into the end zone with seven minutes to play when Stein capped a 16-play, 66-yard drive with a 3-yard run, but by then Daniels had already thrown his fourth touchdown pass, a 9-yard flip to Randolph that made it 31-0 less than two minutes into the third quarter.
“We know we can do it, Bell said, looking ahead to next week's trip to Carol Stream. “We're gonna get into the playoffs this year; we can compete with anybody.