Naperville Central runs away with win

Naperville Central's football team expected a close game against Homewood-Flossmoor.

Silly Redhawks.

They ended up rolling into the Class 8A semifinals for the first time since 2001 with Friday's convincing 42-14 win over visiting Homewood-Flossmoor.

The result surprised both sidelines. In terms of the margin, though, it's hard to say which side of the scoreboard the 42 or the 14 provided the biggest surprise.

"Both," said Redhawks coach Mike Stine. "For us to score 42 against that team, we knew it was going to take a team effort. But for the defense to hold that team to 14 points, that's special."

The special night began when Nick Thomas took the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown to give No. 9 Naperville Central (9-3) an instant 7-0 lead. After the 12th-seeded Vikings (8-4) answered with a 12-play, 80-drive to tie the game on quarterback Tim Williams' 1-yard dive, everything went the Redhawks' way.

They scored 28 straight points before halftime to build a 35-7 lead. A fumble at the Vikings' 3-yard line led to Redhawks quarterback Ian Lewandowski's touchdown from a yard out.

Matt Randolph's 10-yard scoring run soon boosted the lead to 21-7. Williams threw the first of his 3 interceptions on the Vikings' next possession. John Dulleck nearly scored on the pick, but Lewandowski made it 28-7 with another 1-yard dive.

The furious burst by the Redhawks finally ended with Lewandowski's 65-yard bomb to wide-open Blake Butler.

Naperville Central was firmly and surprisingly in control with the 28-point halftime lead.

"We've been working for this for 365 days," said Lewandowski, who ran for 94 yards and 3 touchdowns and threw for 128. "It's a year-round effort. We've been working on this since last year ended. We're just playing great."

Naperville Central played the second half without leading rusher Matt Randolph, who had 66 yards on 10 carries in the opening half, because of a sore hip. He could have played, but the decision was made to rest him for precautionary reasons.

Naperville Central awaits the winner of Saturday's quarterfinal between No. 3 Downers Grove South (10-1) and No. 2 Bolingbrook (10-1). The Redhawks will be either at Downers South or play host to Bolingbrook in next week's semifinals.

"I feel like we've definitely become closer as a team," Dulleck said. "We're definitely more together now. We're doing this for each other now."