A 5-foot-9 quarterback with college offers, Naperville North’s Colasante shows what he can do vs. DeKalb

Naperville North senior Dante Colasante is on the short side for a quarterback.

But the 5-foot-9, 170-pound left-hander is long on talent and desire.

“He’s been a quarterback for most of his life, so he understands throwing lanes, and he’s done a good job with it,” Naperville North coach Sean Drendel said. “He does a lot of great things.

“As a senior, he understands what we’re trying to do and how we’re trying to do it, and it’s been very effective.”

While the Huskies prefer to run first and pass second, Colasante has been effective when he drops back. He has completed 78 of 118 passes (66.1%) for 942 yards, 11 touchdowns and three interceptions, and he has been sacked just four times.

Colasante’s passing production is a classic case of quality over quantity. That was evident when he completed 6 of 12 passes for 115 yards, three of which went for touchdowns, during Naperville North’s 42-14 DuPage Valley Conference win over visiting DeKalb on Friday night.

“A big part of it is studying film,” Colasante said. “Taking the extra time to study film is always a big thing for me because just knowing where the defense is at all times.

“Sometimes you may not be able to see where a defender is, but you know where he is based on what coverage he is in. So I think that’s a big part of my game.”

Collins hopes to return at some point in the playoffs. But there is no guarantee of that.

“Losing Jayke was a really bad thing to happen to us, but I think we were able to bounce back and still kind of lean on our O-line with the run game,” Colasante said. “But also I feel like we improved in the pass game.

“We’ve been throwing the ball a decent amount more these past couple weeks, and I think it just comes from the preparation throughout the week. All those plays that we run in the game, it’s from all those continuous practices and reps throughout the whole week. So that’s props to the whole coaching staff for getting us prepared.”

Sophomore running back Vic Tyson scored on an 80-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. But the playoff-bound Huskies (6-1, 4-0), who have won six straight games, came up empty on their next three possessions, and the Barbs (1-6, 0-4) tied it at 7-7 late in the second quarter.

Junior Shawn Kyereh returned the ensuing kickoff 52 yards to DeKalb’s 41-yard line. Three plays later, Colasante tossed a 33-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jack Zitko with 1:15 to go in the first half.

Colasante and Zitko connected again on the next possession on a 6-yarder that gave the Huskies a 21-7 cushion with 25 seconds remaining.

After junior linebacker Jake Brooks recovered a fumble, Colasante found Kyereh on a 27-yard scoring strike on Naperville North’s first possession of the third quarter.

Brooks has seen this from Colasante in practice.

“He’s a baseball player, and I think his size contributes to how good he is,” Brooks said. “I can’t really see him a lot of the time, and it helps him.

“He’s a great runner too. He’s not afraid to get hit at all.”

Indeed, Colasante picked up 21 yards on his only carry against the Barbs, which ended with him taking a late hit out of bounds. The ensuing penalty gave the Huskies a first down at DeKalb’s 10-yard line and set up Colasante’s second touchdown pass to Zitko.

“I feel like I’m playing pretty well,” Colasante said. “I did miss a couple throws tonight, so obviously I’ll look back at that and really wish I hit those. But I think overall I’m playing pretty well.”

Brooks can’t argue with that.

“He’s playing really well,” Brooks said. “He’s doing all we can ask.”

Colasante wants to continue to play quarterback in college. He has offers from Beloit, Allegheny and Walsh.

“I love it,” Colasante said of being Naperville North’s field general. “I can’t say any negative things about it, but I think my most favorite thing is just having all the guys together and looking at me.

“I’m kind of the centerpiece of the offense, and just having all the guys have trust in me to make plays and do what I’m supposed to do is probably what I like best.”