Naperville Central celebrates homecoming with blowout victory against Stagg

Friday night was Naperville Central’s homecoming, and the Redhawks had no intention of disappointing their fans, taking a crushing 56-7 nonconference victory over the Chargers.

The Redhawks (4-0) lay the beating on the Chargers (2-2) early and often. Aiden Clark set that early table, exiting in the second quarter after scoring three touchdowns and gaining 85 yards on seven carries to continue his scoring barrage for the season. His second touchdown run went for 50 yards on the first play of the Redhawks’ second drive.

“The offense expects a lot of me,” Clark said. “And I expect a lot of everyone else around me. So I think it's the high expectations that really motivate us. The crowd and everyone expects a lot of things from us. So it's really just living up to those expectations and doing what we do best.”

Jalen Isom was the first player to take over for Clark as the primary running back, accumulating 36 yards on eight runs and scoring two touchdowns.

The Naperville Central connection of Sebastian Hayes and DeShaun Williams was just as lethal. Hayes completed all six passes he threw with five of them going to Williams for 81 yards and 1 touchdown.

Hayes also completed a 25-yard pass to Ryan Downey before giving way to Dylan Richards late in the second quarter. Richards proved equally potent, throwing for 80 yards and a 43-yard touchdown to Sidney Lindley on 5-of-6 passing.

Stagg only could dream of getting anything going offensively during a first half in which it accumulated minus 10 yards and got its only first down on a Naperville Central offsides penalty on a third-and-4. Isaiah Jiminez was sacked four times in the first 24 minutes for a loss of 25 yards.

Not only did the Chargers’ offensive struggles give the potent Redhawks offense short fields, but special teams proved to be no better. Garrett Nichols picked up a punt on a bounce and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown.

“I think our biggest thing is each and every week, we want to continue to get better,” said Redhawks coach Mike Ulreich. “That was our motivation. We want to play to a certain standard of performance, and that's really what motivates us each and every week.”

Stagg put together its lone good drive during the second half. That culminated in a 12-yard touchdown run by Tre Washington Jr., who had a team-leading 52 all-purpose yards, 49 of which came on nine runs.