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Huskies hang with Lincoln-Way East for a half

Just after kickoff of Naperville North’s game against visiting Lincoln-Way East on Friday, a fan remarked that the matchup “was going to be a shootout.”

He was right — in the first half at least.

In the opening 24 minutes, the Griffins and Huskies traded long drive after long drive, and mixed in some outstanding defensive plays as well.

Then Lincoln-Way East took control after halftime.

The Griffins turned a 28-17 lead into a 49-17 Southwest Valley Blue win.

It was the third time this season that Lincoln-Way East has scored 49 points in a game as it improved to 4-0, 1-0 in conference.

“Great competition tonight, and a lot of teamwork involved,” said Griffins senior offensive lineman Anthony Arrivo. “All of us teammates trust each other, love each other and get the job done.”

Receiver Keagan Ruane led the attack for Lincoln-Way East by catching three passes for 74 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The visitors scored four first-half touchdowns, all on TD passes by quarterback Jonas Williams.

Ruane found the end zone on catches of 40 yards and 21 yards; Christian Remblake grabbed a 7-yard TD toss; while Luke Vetter had a 15-yard reception for a score.

Naperville North countered with touchdown passes by Jacob Bell to Brock Pettaway and Nicholas Manzardo and added a 30-yard field goal from Tyler Duewel.

Huskies Zach Mally and Quincy Blaise, and Dylan Weathers of the Griffins each had first-half interceptions to key their team’s defensive effort.

Naperville North took the second half kickoff and drove deep into Lincoln-Way East territory but after a timeout, the Griffins stopped the Huskies on fourth down to take possession.

Then the visitors took to the ground game to put the contest on ice. Brody Gish had two touchdown runs in the second half while Williams added one.

Pettaway and Quinn Morris each had 5 receptions for Naperville North.

“Lincoln-Way East is really good team,” said Huskies (2-2, 0-1) coach Sean Drendel. “You’ve got to shoot with them, you can’t sit back. We made some plays but we just didn’t have enough.

“We had a chance to score right away in the second half and we just didn’t punch it in. They started running some stunts up front and they did some good stuff up front.

“But our guys did a good job. I think we can score points offensively, we just didn’t go a good job tonight. But we’ll come back from this and be in good shape.”

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