Naperville North executes late to top Libertyville in OT
Naperville North did not want a repeat of its opening week loss.
The Huskies made plays late, including JD Sanford's sack of Libertyville’s quarterback Brady Buenik late to clinch a 21-14 overtime victory over the Wildcats (1-1) on Friday in Libertyville.
Buenik had led Libertyville (1-1) on a comeback drive with 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter by scoring on a four-yard rush to tie the game at 14.
After Huskies running back William Eloc scored the go-ahead touchdown from 10 yards out on the first play of the first overtime, Naperville North knew it had to make a goal-line stop on No. 10.
“Yeah, we know he was drawing up the middle to the strong side and our job was just to fill the gaps, do our assignment and contain,” Naperville North defensive lineman Gabriel Hill said.
Eloc finished with 20 rushes for 128 yards and two touchdowns, while Josiah Nothacker finished with 104 passing yards and a 61-yard first-half touchdown to Jack Zitko.
Eloc was not going to be denied on his game-winning run.
“When I was going out for that play, the coach just called power,” Eloc said. “I smelled the end zone and I was going to run over everything I see until I get there.”
Quiney Blaise intercepted Buenik in the second half when Libertyville starter Trevor Wallace left the game for a couple of plays due to injury.
“We’re going to be one of those teams that’s in tight games all year long,” Huskies coach Sean Drendel said. “We have to stop the run and we have to be able to run the football. And we did those things late in the game that got us the win.”
The Wildcats struggled to sustain drives in much of the second half, but coach Tim Budge opted to spark the offense by using Buenik on the final drive of regulation.
“We just wanted to get a little more running,” Budge said of the decision to rotate quarterbacks late. “Brady just came back from injury, so we just wanted to get a look at him as well.”
Wallace finished with 136 passing yards, including a first-half touchdown pass to Bode Rohrbach. Aiden Weaver had 59 rushing yards and 21 receiving yards in the loss, while Buenik had 15 rushing yards, including the game-tying touchdown in the waning seconds.
“It’s two very good programs going at it,” Budge said. “They are good every year. I knew it was going to be a game like this, back-and-forth. We’re tough, they’re tough. It was the game I expected, just we fell on the short end. Just came to a couple of plays at the end.”
Naperville North will host Metea Valley next week at home, while Libertyville will host Stevenson.