Naperville Central takes 'must-win' from Metea Valley

Three weeks into the season with both teams facing what could be a devastating third loss, it was not too early to call Friday's game a "must-win" for Metea Valley and Naperville Central.

"It was a must-win for us," said Naperville Central quarterback Patrick Ryan. "We went 0-2 and people were starting to count us out. The whole week, 'One-and-oh, one-and-oh.' That was our mindset. We came out and did it."

Ryan completed 10 of 21 passes for a personal-best 241 yards and 2 touchdowns, and junior running back AJ Deinhart added 164 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries as Naperville Central avoided an 0-3 start with a 28-25 come-from-behind win in Aurora.

Deinhart rushed for 141 yards in the second half including a 20-yard touchdown scamper to cap an 8-play, 86-yard drive on Naperville Central's first possession of the third quarter. The drive erased Metea Valley's 17-14 halftime lead.

"We talked about it all week," said Naperville Central coach Mike Stine, whose team is 1-2 in the DuPage Valley Conference. "You have to be able to come out and run the ball if you want to be a good football team. We challenged our five guys up front and AJ ran the ball really well."

Metea Valley (0-3, 0-3 DuPage Valley Conference) scored on its first two possessions, sandwiching a 27-yard field goal by Sam Barton and a 4-yard touchdown run by Myles Walker around a 2-yard toss from Ryan to Joshua Boomgarden. The Naperville Central touchdown was set up by a 65-yard pass from Ryan to Tommy Coyne on the Redhawks' first play from scrimmage.

"It was awesome to be able to show my arm off," Ryan said. "We came out and said we're going to challenge them vertically and that's what we did. That play got everybody hped on the sidelines. That was a huge start for us."

Naperville Central took a 14-10 lead on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Ryan to Coyne with 4:03 remaining in the second quarter, but Joshua Ruiz returned the ensuing kickoff 36 yards to set up a 5-yard scramble by Metea Valley sophomore quarterback Payton Thorne two minutes before halftime.

Payton completed 15 of 23 passes for 170 yards including a 51-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Reed that got the Mustangs within 28-25 with 4:01 remaining in the game. The sophomore added 34 yards rushing.

"He's obviously a really good player," said Metea Valley coach Ben Kleinhans. "He's advanced for his age. He's skilled and mature beyond his years. He understands the game. He's really good now and he's only going to get better. We're excited about his future."

Ryan extended Naperville Central's lead to 28-17 with a 2-yard touchdown run with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The touchdown capped off an 82-yard drive that consumed nearly six minutes.