Boys soccer: Hadaway ‘absolutely killing it’ as rise from JV2 to varsity standout continues in Naperville North’s upset win over Naperville Central
If opponents are going to think less of senior Jake Hadaway and some of his Huskies teammates because they played on the second junior varsity team last year, they had better prepare for a rude awakening.
Hadaway was not on Naperville North’s state championship varsity squad in 2025, nor was he on the JV1 squad. But this season he’s having a breakout year and on Tuesday helped his team surprise Naperville Central 3-0.
The more experienced Redhawks entered the crosstown battle with a 2-0 record and promptly controlled the play for almost the entire first half, but failed to find the back of the net.
Then, with just eight seconds left in the half, Hadaway took a long outlet pass from Will Boniface and notched his team-leading third goal of the fall. Hadaway’s deep cross early in the second half led to a goal by Boniface as the home Huskies turned the game around in their favor and eventually prevailed by a surprising margin.
“I don’t think I’m gonna have any better feeling this season. To put us up 1-0 against our rivals like that. Especially when on paper we were the underdogs. That is going to mean a lot to me looking back,” said Hadaway, a speedy forward who has been kicking soccer balls around since playing on a park district team in kindergarten.
The Huskies (2-1-2), who didn’t lose a game last year, had their 31-game unbeaten streak snapped early this season. But on Tuesday, with just one returning starter back, they showed that once again they are a team to be reckoned with.
“Everybody built off each other and everybody did the little things correct today,” Hadaway added. “Our first touches were on point today. We got a lot of good players, but we don’t have too many amazing players. With a lot of good players, if you do everything correct, you can get three goals against your rival.”
Even if the roster is full of former JV2 players.
“A lot of the players here I played with my freshman year so I still have a lot of chemistry with them,” said Hadaway, who tallied 28 goals to lead a potent JV2 squad in 2025. “Our JV2 team was really good last year and we have plenty of those players on the team now. A lot of teams might look at a team and say they’ve got a lot of JV2 players starting …(and overlook us).”
After Hadaway’s cross set up Boniface’s score to make it 2-0 just 71 seconds into the second half, the Huskies were in control but didn’t let up.
Midway through the second half Ukiah Morris found a seam up the middle, raced toward the goal and unleashed a rocket that caromed down off the crossbar. It looked to some like a goal, but moments later Dylan Healy corralled the rebound and buried it to make it 3-0.
“You know soccer’s funny. We’re not three goals better than Central for sure,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said.
That said, Konrad is not too surprised to see Hadaway get off to a fast start this fall. “Jake was on JV2. He was on our third team last year,” Konrad said. “Starting every game now and he’s our leading goal scorer. Absolutely killing it.”
It’s more than just physical skills leading the way, according to his coach.
“There’s good soccer players and there’s kids that just want to win. Jake is a good soccer player who wants to win, and there’s a difference there. He ran and ran and ran tonight,” Konrad said.
Redhawks coach Troy Adams liked the fact that his team created a lot of chances and had several corner kicks, but he didn’t like that none of them found the back of the net.
“Soccer’s a cruel game. You know ultimately obviously we were not the better team today. Yeah, for stretches in the first half I thought we played very well. But when you’re in front of the goal it comes down to who finishes more,” said Adams, who got another strong game from forward Brady Strang in a losing effort.
Boniface, like Hadaway, is enjoying playing a bigger role this season after so many stars graduated from the program.
“This is the game we look forward to and it’s probably the most important game other than the playoffs,” he said. “Our JV2 was amazing. We got Jake Hadaway, and this kid has been amazing. We just don’t really have a superstar but we just have everyone playing together for each other.”