Colasante injury concerns Naperville North in loss to East St. Louis
The final score didn’t really matter much to Naperville North.
Sure, perennial state power East St. Louis came away with a 35-8 win in Friday’s regular season finale in Naperville. But all that matters at the moment is the health of Huskies quarterback Dante Colasante, who took a vicious hit to the head while scrambling for a first down late in the first quarter. The senior team leader was taken off the field on a stretcher but did raise an arm to the fans on the way out.
The loss dropped Naperville North to 7-2 on the year as the Flyers easily claimed the battle that pitted a pair of 7-1 teams. But the Huskies battled throughout, actually outscoring East St. Louis 8-7 in the second half as the defense forced a couple punts, one of which was blocked and another that resulted in a safety after a high snap.
“In the first half we put ourselves in a couple tough situations and they got some plays from some great players,” said Naperville North junior linebacker Jake Brooks, who had a sack and multiple tackles for loss. “We came out in the second half and we were (ticked) off. The defense played well and we made them punt a couple times which is something they haven’t done very often.”
East St. Louis built a 27-0 lead at the half, but the Huskies defense provided some key stops in the second half, and Ezekiel Adefila recorded sacks of Reece Shanklin on back-to-back plays.
After Flyers punter Austin Wilkinson kicked the high snap out of the end zone for a safety to make the score 27-2, the Huskies scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Declan Reagan to Hudson Glass to close to within 27-8. The visitors added a late score on a nifty 53-yard run by Ronnie Gomiller, but Naperville North showed plenty of fight against a program that has finished first or second in the Class 6A state finals for six straight years.
“That is probably the toughest football team I have faced in my 31 years,” Huskies coach Sean Drendel said. “They have great players all over the field. But our guys fought and battled. We’re feeling pretty good. If we come out of this OK health wise, we’ll be fine. But we’ve got some things to pray about first.”
It didn’t take the Flyers long to flex their muscles in the first half as the visitors took the opening drive 80 yards capped by Shanklin’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Jahmori Ware in the left corner of the end zone less than five minutes into the contest.
After a three-and-out by the Huskies, the lead grew to 14-0 after a 2-yard touchdown run by Chris Jackson, the first of his two rushing scores in the half. The lead reached 20-0 early in the second quarter on a 7-yard scamper by Jackson.
Shanklin, who’s committed to Southeast Missouri State, completed his first 12 passes of the night, and after his first incomplete pass, he connected with Laron Baker Jr. on a 24-yard score in the final minute, making the score 27-0 at the half.
To make matters worse, Colasante was knocked out of the game late in the first quarter. He was hit in the helmet on the play and the Flyers were penalized 15 yards for targeting.
Baker Jr. finished with 10 catches for 108 yards and one touchdown for the Flyers.
“We’re moving up from 6A so we had to come out and prove that we’re ready for the 7A playoffs,” Baker Jr. said. “Me and my quarterback, we just took what we had, whether it was short passes or long passes.”